Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

GazerRise Fantastic!

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

BA_Harrison Serenity House, a rundown London council tower block scheduled for redevelopment, is inhabited by a few remaining tenants who are unwilling to move out. When a teenager is beaten to death in the building, and no-one will come forward as a witness for fear of reprisal, a vengeful sniper armed with a high-powered rifle and laser sights blocks off all exits in the high-rise and proceeds to blow the heads off the tight-lipped residents.The killer in Tower Block is a truly incredible individual: not only can he take aim and shoot the dick off a gnat at 100 yards, in the dark, in under a second, but he's also adept at rigging complex booby traps in a public space without raising any suspicion, knows how to block cell phone signals and internet connections, and even has a designer's eye, rustling up a natty graffiti-style logo to announce his campaign of terror. That said, he's still no match for feisty blonde Becky (Sheridan Smith), who is able to thwart the shooter's best laid plans with a little help from her surviving neighbours, including local thug Kurtis (Jack O'Connell) and friendly, fearless fellow Neville (Ralph Brown).With a lot more care and attention in the script department, this might have been a taut little thriller—there's definitely the germ of a good idea in there somewhere— but too many far-fetched elements, massive plot holes and unlikeable characters (I struggle with wastrels, criminals and chavs as heroes—see also Attack The Block) prevent it from being a success, despite the best efforts of a game cast (Jack O'Connell's OTT performance is a blast) and competent direction from James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson. With lots of shootings and some reasonable action, it's never boring, I suppose, but it could have been so much better.Oh, and to the IMDb reviewer who described Sheridan Smith as 'a monster of a woman': get your eyes tested!!! She's a hottie!

jimbo-53-186511 *********************MAJOR SPOILERS***************************Tower Block is sort of a cross between Attack the Block, Saw & The Negotiator. This is probably another film that is easiest to summarise simply by dividing it into good and bad. I'll start with the good;GOOD - The opening scene shows a youth being beaten up and subsequently killed, albeit unintentionally. When a police officer makes door to door enquiries with the residents, he speaks to Becky (Sheridan Smith) who claims that she hasn't seen anything and refuses to assist the police. This might seem strange to those that live outside the UK, but in certain areas of the UK and within certain communities, the police are seen as 'the enemy' and people refuse to 'grass' for fear of reprisals. This doesn't necessary set the characters as being 'bad', but merely explores what parts of our society are like within the UK. I also liked the way that there were a good mix of characters living in the block - it would have been easy for the filmmaker's just to have a load of unlikeable chavs (or delinquents for those who are unfamiliar with UK slang), but there were clearly a mix of good and bad people which again meant that the characters weren't entirely clichéd. We don't get much background information on the characters, but we know enough about them to understand that they all have their own identify. Again I felt it was a fair representation of our society. A special nod should also go to Sheridan Smith and Julie Graham who I felt probably gave the strongest performances. There is a particularly effective scene between the objectionable Kurtis (Jack O'Connell) and family man Neville (Ralph Brown). Kurtis had been taking payment from the residents to 'protect' them, but when Kurtis pushes Neville too far he punches him and knocks him to the ground. I believe the point of this scene was to show how weak and cowardly bullies are and effectively Kurtis did try to bully many of the residents throughout the film. I thought that was a good bit of writing. Tower Block moves at a very brisk pace and I don't recall there being a dull moment throughout the film. It certainly kept me entertained for the majority of its 90 minute running time. BAD; OK, it's impossible to overlook how far fetched and ridiculous that this film felt at times. We have a sniper who seems to be able to pick people off the instant a curtain opens. How come he always knew which window they would appear from and be able to shoot them instantly every time? He would only be able to point his sniper at one window at a time so is it just luck that he happens to always have his sniper trained on the right window. Next we come to the booby traps - I mean geez who was his accomplice John Kramer aka Jigsaw from the Saw films. I just found it hard to believe that a police officer would have the skill or the knowledge to be able to concoct these elaborate traps. In Saw, we learn that John Kramer is able to create elaborate traps, but it's explained that he is a Civil Engineer and hence has the required knowledge to be able to create complex mechanical traps. Are we really expected to believe that a police officer is able to do this? Even if he had the skill to set these traps up (which seems unlikely to me). How on earth would he be able to do all this without anybody noticing? He also manages to block a fire exit by placing a skip in front of the door. How did he do that? Did he have a mate with a skip lorry and a skip? It just got more and more ludicrous as it went on. For me the worst aspect of the film was the final 10 minutes or so; the vigilante police officer decides to enter the Tower Block to pick off the remaining residents. What surprised me about this is that he ends up making it easier for the residents to get the better of him. If he'd stayed where he was, they still would have struggled escaping. When watching this scene, it reminded me of that line towards the end of Crocodile Dundee 2 "When we were kids, did you chase the snake into the cane fields". In other words, why did he go into the lions den (so to speak) and make himself more vulnerable. The end of the film is also a bit ambiguous as you find yourself not sure whose side you should be on - the residents were wrong because they didn't do anything to prevent the sniper/police officer's son from getting killed, but then again the police officer killed a lot of people who genuinely may not have known who killed his son. I found the ending to be somewhat of an anti-climax and also thought it was a strange way to wrap the film up. I also wasn't impressed by Jack O'Connell's 'over-acting'. Despite some of my reservations Tower Block is still worth a look. In spite of its many flaws, it is entertaining and I can honestly say that there was never a dull moment. At times the writing was really sharp, but due to the numerous plot holes and the rather anti-climatic ending it's nothing more than an average film.

MattyGibbs Tower Block is a small a UK thriller with an interesting premise. Prior to it's demolition a small group of people awaiting relocation on the top floor of a Tower Block start being picked off by a sniper. This is seemingly linked to the murder of a young man at the Tower Block three months previously. I was drawn to this film by the fact it starred Sheridan Smith a highly talented, versatile and well known British actress. She is excellent in this and has good support from a strong supporting cast. Sharing the actor honours is Jack O'Connell as the resident yob Kurtis who is as menacing as they come. The surviving characters are an interesting mix some you sympathise with and some you most definitely don't. The film builds a nerve shredding air of tension as the terrified and trapped inhabitants desperately try to escape from the tower block. The dialogue and the interaction between the characters is believable and for a film set in one place the story is admirably fast paced. This is an interesting if highly implausible story but any flaws are more than made up for by the well acted unpredictable and explosive story line. I have seen a lot of low budget films but this one took me by surprise at just how good it was. This film deserves a much higher audience and is highly recommended.

Coventry Derivative and largely formulaic thriller, but nevertheless one that remains suspenseful and compelling throughout the entire running time thanks to the raw & gritty atmosphere and a handful of extremely brutal shock-moments. Reminiscent to the other recent British flick "Attack the Block" in terms of tone & social setting, "Tower Block" takes place in a pauperized and crime-infested big city suburb where people abandoned all hope for prosperity long time ago already and desperately avoid every type of contact with fellow human beings. The film entirely takes place in a large apartment complex that is scheduled for destruction and only the residents of the top floor still live there. One Saturday morning, they are rudely awakened by a relentless psycho killer with a sniper rifle. He – or she – fires at everything that moves and placed booby-traps across the building. There's a obvious link with an unsolved murder committed in the block a few months earlier and now the asocial tenants are forced to rely on each other for survival. The biggest trumps for a film such as "Tower Block" are surprise and unpredictability. All the residents are equally insignificant, meaning that literally anyone of them could be next. And they could be next at any random and possible moment, too. Writers/directors duo James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson aptly play with these trumps, as the characters definitely don't die in the order you'd expect. Sniper murders can perhaps get a bit monotonous after a while, but there's enough diversity in killing methods and circumstances. Obviously there's quite a large number of holes and irrationality in the plot and the climax (as in: revelation of the sniper's identity) is weak and disappointing. The acting performances vary between adequate and amateurish, with good roles for tough blond gal Sheridan Smith and "Alien³" veteran Ralph Brown. In case you want to seek out more "serial sniper-killer" movies after this, I warmly recommended the almighty "Dirty Harry" but also the more obscure "Two-Minute Warning", "Targets" and "The Deadly Tower"