The Man Inside

• Eddie Harrison
• 17 July 2012

Dull, worthy British drama with impressive supporting cast

Filmmaker Dan Turner cut his teeth as an editor before graduating to writer/director status on last year’s little-seen horror film Stormhouse. Here, Turner has assembled an impressive supporting cast, including Peter Mullan, Michelle Ryan and Homeland’s David Harewood for this worthy but dull drama, mistakenly advertising itself as a thriller.

Ashley ‘Bashy’ Thomas plays Clayton Murdoch, a young boxer living in a predictably grim Newcastle. His relationship with dour local goth Alexia (Ryan) doesn’t meet the approval of her father, Gordon (Mullan), who runs the local gym. Clayton’s murderous father Eugene (Harewood) is currently residing in jail, but the gangster lifestyle comes back to haunt Clayton when his brother is stabbed, and Clayton finds the desire for revenge hard to resist.

Cut from the same worn cloth as the equally forgettable Best Laid Plans, Turner’s film attempts to emulate the social concerns featured in the Boyz n The Hood genre, but merely comes off as po-faced and self-important; strong British independent cinema deserves an audience, but The Man Inside never lands a punch.

Selected release from Fri 27 Jul.