London Fields ★★
MYSTERY drama London Fields is more interesting as an off-screen story than an on-screen one.
Despite being based on a celebrated book by British author Martin Amis, it was a huge commercial flop on release in 2018.
The muddled script and uninspired acting are mostly to blame.
Prior to release, the film was subject to two law suits – from director Matthew Cullen, who wasn’t happy with the final cut, and star Amber Heard, who wasn’t happy with how she was portrayed in nude scenes.
Heard and former partner Johnny Depp also appear in the film and it’s intersting to wonder about the dynamic that was at play leading up to their very public real-life bust-up.
All these elements are more interesting than the film itself that is generally dull and pretentious.
It’s set in London in the late ’80s but at times adopts a confusing steam punk style in its fashion and language.
Billy Bob Thornton pretty much sleepwalks his way throuygh the part of American author Samson Young who is visiting London while trying to cure his writer’s block.
At a local pub he meets two wildly different characters – two-bit crook and would-be darts champion Keith Talent (Jim Sturgess) and spoilt rich-kid Guy Clinch (Theo James).
Into all their lives saunters femme fatale Nicola Six (Heard) who bewitches and manipulates them all.
To Talent she is a bad girl, to Clinch a demure virgin and to Young she reveals her psychic ability. Six claims she has foreseen the date of her own death and the fact that one of these three men will be her killer.
Young seizes on an unique opportunity to develop Six’s fate into a real-life mystery novel.
This all sounds relatively interesting, but a meandering script, plodding direction and confusing editing and continuity combine to create a lifeless exercise.
Heard is a beautiful screen presence , lloking and moving the part, but her acting is still limited. Sturgess and Depp play annoying characters badly while Theo James as Clinch probably has the only redeeming moments.
Amis helped write the script but it’s hard to know who is ultimately most at fault for this failed adaptation.