Review: Pusher (18)

That man is Luis Prieto who, alongside partner in crime Richard Coyle, succeeds in presenting a harsh and unforgiving portrait of the UK drug scene.

Sheffielder Coyle is Frank, in hock to a so-called supplier friend whose viciousness is masked by fake bonhomie. Instead Frank finds himself in a friendless dog-eat-dog world of betrayal in which he is in decidedly over his head.

Needing hard cash to pay a debt, he hunts out his own creditors and finds that recovering what he is owed – to pay what he owes – is impossible. Pusher, like its 1996 antecedent, is hardly an original concept. What both films do – and particularly this new attempt – is pile on the energy, sweat and violence as Frank (Coyle in magnificent, form) tears across London from one target to another.

Prieto has an eye for visuals be it a sleazy back-room office or a cacophonous party at which Frank mugs the entire room. And it moves. Speed is of the essence and in Frank/Coyle Prieto fashions an anti-hero (he’s a louse) whose only root is girlfriend Flo (Agyness Deyn). The film is packed with impressive character actors – Paul Kaye, Neil (Kill List) Maskell and Zlatko Buric, a link to Refn’s film and playing the same role – and has the courage to opt for an unhappy ending. In this world of sanitised fluff, it’s a rare and salutary thing.