Gangster

It’s not often that you watch a gangster movie that actually looks like it might have been made by members of the criminal underground. Baseline, a new, low-budget British film, has that feel. Menace and threat simply ooze from the screen. The actors are believably authentic – a benefit of the film makers not being able afford big names for all the parts.

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Finally, after more than ten years in the making, Kevin Sampson’s bestselling novel arrives on the big screen. And fans of the book won’t be disappointed – the best things come to those who wait, after all.
Set in 1979, the film follows the tale of Paul Carty (played by Nicky Bell) – a disillusioned 19-year-old from Birkenhead who, through his friend Elvis (Liam Boyle), becomes involved with the football and fighting loving gang The Pack. This isn’t your typical footie flick, though – the coming-of-age story is as much about any of the trials and tribulations traditionally faced by youth culture; fashion, fighting, drugs, drinking, music and making out… And the hot young actors getting up to all this certainly add a bit of spark to the bleak Liverpool-setting, although nothing is glamorised in this home-grown film so don’t expect a Hollywood spin. The soundtrack is equally close to Sampson’s Scouse roots, featuring mostly north-west acts such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Magazine, Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire, while the wardrobe – made up from Lois jeans, Lacoste t-shirts and Adidas Forest Hills training shoes (re-issued to coincide with the film release) – will instantly take back anyone old enough to have lived through the so-called casual scene.