{"id":2549,"date":"2013-05-16T16:50:12","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T16:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/?p=2549"},"modified":"2013-05-16T16:50:12","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T16:50:12","slug":"the-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/comedy\/the-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"The Liability ***"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It seems cameraman-cum-director Craig Viveiros fancies himself as a bit of a \u2018British Tarantino\u2019 with his second feature, The Liability<\/em>. He even employs the services of one of Pulp Fiction<\/em> and Resevoir Dogs<\/em>\u2019 actors, Tim Roth, to evoke that clever magic. Indeed, at the heart of this road movie is a more superior, darkly comedic thriller itching to unfold. Thankfully, due to the central and intriguing father\/son relationship between ageing hit man Roy (Roth) and his haphazard apprentice Adam (Jack O\u2019Connell), this commendable attempt at deadly humour does not fall short, even though there are other, more daring possibilities Viveiros could have explored to make his film feel less d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in plot.<\/p>\n

After trashing his step-father Peter\u2019s car, 19-year-old Adam is forced to pay off the damage by the sinister, violent gangster (Peter Mullan) by driving a mysterious associate of his called Roy across country in an ageing Ford Granada. Something that should be simple enough to accomplish gets highly curious Adam deeper into murky waters with Roy, until the older man\u2019s grizzly line of work is revealed. Short of silencing the teenager, Adam is fascinated by Roy\u2019s profession and becomes his eager but accident-prone apprentice or \u2018liability\u2019. After Adam\u2019s initiation job goes horribly wrong, the pair are left to clear up the bloody pieces, leading the lad further into a nightmarish world of murder, sex trafficking and revenge.<\/p>\n

Viveiros wants us to laugh then grimace at events simultaneously, so much so that he has no qualms about using shock tactics right near the start to set the scene and give an insight into Peter\u2019s disturbed mind. Mullan is as callously deviant as ever in this part but is also notably absent from most of the film. Hence, this snippet of Peter\u2019s foul depths is necessary to tie up the finale, even though its origins are never further explored beyond surface value: The focus is quickly switched to Roy and Adam and their journey ahead.<\/p>\n

Here, the filmmakers create a compelling and ever-present danger to the Roy-Adam relationship that\u2019s like witnessing an older mammal toying with a younger one, ready to extinguish its life, unless it becomes more interesting and useful. O\u2019Connell is quite hilarious as the annoying Adam who picks away at Roy\u2019s resolve with endless childlike questions, yearning for the father figure he can aspire to in some tragic, desperate fashion. Roth as Roy commands their next moves entirely as we hang on his every stony-faced reaction and subsequent word to determine where things will go next. In this respect, it\u2019s nothing new for this genre, but it allows Roth to deliciously tap into his Tarantino past to deliver thrills from the most mundane of everyday observations.<\/p>\n

The Roy\/Adam cat-and-mouse dynamic gives the film its human element and black soul, so it\u2019s only natural that things feel a little off kilter when Adam gets kidnapped by a savvy and tough Eastern European girl (Talulah Riley) looking for her lost sister, with Adam ending up under lock and chain in a Freddy Krueger-style iron basement. Viveiros veers off track here \u2013 presumably, so that he can tick the body beautiful box and inject some sexuality, using a buffed O\u2019Connell. Wisely, he returns the balance and the sardonic side reappears for the big-hearted reveal that bonds the unlikely pair further. In this sense, the film points more to a chalk-and-cheese character study under the bleakest of circumstances rather than a potentially darkly comedic thriller. Whatever, it still feels a little safe following along the same tropes.<\/p>\n

If nothing else, The Liability<\/em> offers some well-rounded performances from Roth, O\u2019Connell and Mullan, amidst a kooky but believable premise, suggesting Viveiros\u2019s enthusiasm for the genre and its black comedic tendencies, along a Tarantino vein. Sadly, it offers nothing beyond the usual markers of such a coming-of-age film and ends up feeling highly clich\u00e9d and conventional at the end, lacking in that spark of innovation.<\/p>\n

3\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

By @FilmGazer<\/p>\n

Follow on Twitter<\/a>
\n