Pusher

A remake of Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn's gritty 1996 Danish break-out movie, this vibrant urban update set in post-rave culture East London works surprisingly well, mostly because its antihero Frank (Richard Coyle) is no longer a thick-set blue-collar bruiser but a charming, likeable cocaine dealer who mostly sells drugs to his friends. It's this which makes his descent into hell all the more dramatic, when a sure-fire deal goes horribly wrong and suddenly all the doors that once opened are slamming shut in his face. Coyle is by far the standout in a neon-saturated nightlife thriller that throbs with a persuasive clubland beat, but the elements around him don't quite match. Agyness Deyn, as Frank's beautiful but blank pole-dancer sweetheart, Flo, particularly struggles to muster the necessary sympathy that will see the film through to its crucial last stretch. The movie has personality, though, as well as a rare emotional intelligence that separates it from typical British gangster fare.