“44 Inch Chest”–capable of murder

“44 Inch Chest”

Capable of Murder

Amos Lassen

Colin Diamond (Ray Winstone) is a British gangster who is facing a serious breakdown after his wife Liz (Joanne Whalley) leaves him for a younger man, Loverboy (Melvil Pompaud). He has been humiliated by the woman he loves. He beats her a bit to get information and then finds her new lover and kidnaps him and locks him in a chest to teach him the price he must pay for stealing another man’s wife. He wants revenge and he asks his colleagues to help him.
Archie (Tom Wilkinson) is a 50 year old somewhat compassionate man but he still lives with his mother and he is one of Colin’s pals. There are also Mal (Stephen Dilliane), a good looking man who loves revenge, Peanut (John Hurt), an angry old man and Meredith (Ian McShane), a gay gambler. They want to help their friend and they guide his every mood. The five of them decide how they, as “real men” should act in this situation. They must decide if torture is the best answer or should they just let Loverboy go.

Ian McShane is amazing as the gay gambler and his role is full of homoeroticism. He is perfect as the cool, calm and collected wise guy who is open about his sexuality and he dares anyone to mess with him. The movie can best be described as six guys sitting around discussing—-five of the guys have something to say while the sixth is tied up, bruised and bloody and wondering how long will it be before the five kill him. The film is ably directed by Malcolm Venville and the script was written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto who wrote “Angry Beast”. The story is not much here—there is a great deal of talk and this is sometimes profane dialog. The actors are all excellent and as they play foul mouthed, misogynistic males who say what they feel. I think the word “interesting” best describes the film.