Yo This Film Is Wack Blud! (Adulthood (DVD))

Member Name: Great_reviewer07

Product:	Adulthood (DVD)
Date:	05/09/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Watchable gritty drama

Disadvantages: Hardly any story

Supposedly 6 years after the events from the 2006 film Kidulthood, Sam (Noel Clarke) has since done his time in prison for the manslaughter of Trife. Upon his release he heads to the cemetery where Trife's grave is where he attacked by a member of Trife's family. He warns him that people are after him and his family for what he did six years ago and that if he thought he had it tough in prison it's nothing compared to what he's got coming to him.

Sam wants to know who's after him because it could be any number of people who he enraged 6 years ago with his bullying ways. He tracks down old friends from school who he knew around the time when he killed Trife. Mooney who has since enrolled at university, now has a steady life, he is still angry at Sam for killing his friend but doesn't want to drag up the past. Unlike Jay (Adam Deacon) who has never managed to get over the death of his friend and vows that he'll track down Sam and kill him...

Set 6 years after what happened in the first film, it seemed like a good base to set the sequel on as Kidulthood never showed any consequences for the offenders portrayed in the film, which possibly could have given the wrong impression to naïve and impressionable kids that they can go throwing their weight around, doing whatever they want and never have to face the consequences. Adulthood sets this right, 6 years obviously isn't a long time to serve for manslaughter however this film deals with the psychological terror and transformation that Sam has undergone in the last 6 years, during prison and subsequent to his release. He knows that his sentence, metaphorically is a life one, it's something that he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life and he knows that people are going to be vying for his blood upon his release.

This film is written and directed by the extremely talented Noel Clarke who plays Sam in the movie, he didn't have any credits in Kidulthood besides his character portrayal of bully Sam so it was a brave move to write and direct the sequel because the original has garnered such a huge youth following since its release three years ago. Although he's managed to write a solid script I can't help but think that this was a bit of a vanity project for Noel Clarke, Kidhulthood wasn't centred around him, he was merely the bully so I found it to be quite a strange move for the sequel to be centred around him. Nevertheless he's done a pretty decent job, writing a sturdy screenplay for a gritty and compelling drama. What with Sam being the main character, I was expecting to see a little bit more of his personality, something which would make him likeable however there's just nothing there. Throughout the film he claims to not want anymore trouble and says he just wants to get on with his life however his actions completely contradict this, as he sets out to find who is after him he's pretty much gone looking for trouble instead of letting trouble eventually find him. This is true for the majority of the film, it seems very contrived and contradictable as Sam and other characters say one thing yet do another. This makes for a bit of a frustrating watch where you're asking yourself 'why can't Sam just leave things be?'. Despite the fall backs of Sam's character, Noel Clarke has done a fine job with other aspects of Sam's character, it shows that the scars aren't just physical and that no matter what anyone says or does he's going to have to live with his guilt forever.

The other main characters are played by Scarlett Johnson, who you'll recognise as Vicki Fowler from Eastenders and Adam Deacon playing Jay, who's out to get revenge on Sam for killing his friend. Jay was a good character for the film as he encapsulates what every victim of a horrendous crime must go through, if you watch shows like Crimewatch then you'll always hear that it's not just the victims themselves that have to suffer, it's the friends and family too. Adam Deacon shows just how catastrophic the events of 6 years ago were when he was 15 and how even now at 21 he's still feeling sour about them. Adam Deacon is a character who many people will relate to and sympathise with yet in this film he's portrayed as the bad guy whereas Sam who is the killer is portrayed somewhat as the victim. I found this to be a little backwards because in my opinion a lot of people wouldn't blame Jay for wanting his revenge, granted that wanting revenge and getting revenge are two different things but I don't think that they should have portrayed Jay in such a negative light. The film is also a journey for him too as his life has spiralled out of control since Trife's murder six years ago and it deals with Jay trying to cope with that trauma by selling drugs, mugging and threatening people. Unfortunately I don't think Jay had enough screen time, his character could have been a lot better developed and his story could have been delved into a little deeper however unfortunately most of the film is taken up by Sam and his 'I don't want any trouble when I actually do' storyline.

The most interesting character for me was Lexi (Scarlett Johnson), to my recollection she didn't appear in the first film therefore had to compete with characters we were already familiar with like Sam and Jay and she did a superb job at rivalling them. Her character is shamefully underwritten though and although she appears in a big chunk of the film we don't get to see or hear enough about her character. There was one scene whilst in bed with Sam where she opens up a little about her past but apart from that she's a closed book. This may have been a positive for her though because she remains intriguing to the audience as I certainly wanted to know more about her character.

It is possible to watch this film and understand what's happening in it without having seen Kidhulthood as we're spoon fed a lot of plot information from six years ago throughout the film. Of course it's a plus if you've seen the first film because you'll be able to understand the characters a little better however to my mind this is a weaker film to Kidhulthood so I would advise watching that before watching this.

The dialogue managed to get on my nerves really quickly with words like 'blud' and 'bruv' used at the end of every sentence. Of course they were trying to make the film as realistic as possible but after about half an hour this really started to grate on my nerves because it makes the characters come across as fake and mere wannabes.

The film does run along at a relatively quick pace and the film is wrapped up nicely after a 98 minute run. This was however all I could take of this film, it tries so hard to stay true to life but it almost tries too hard and is too realistic for it's own good which could possibly alienate a lot of people who could have wanted to watch this film. Despite the film moving along at a fairly swift pace not a lot seems to actually happen in this film, there is barely any plot to establish at all. It's all revolved around Sam trying to find out who's after him and Jay wanting to kill him. It is made clear to Sam right from the start that it's likely to be Jay who's after him yet he seems to dismiss this fact and goes looking for anyone else with a motive to kill him. It seems as though Noel Clarke couldn't come up with a strong enough story so he filled half of the movie up with filler plot lines and made his character of Sam come across as very one dimensional and stupid.

Overall this is a gritty, somewhat true to life drama that no doubt will garner a big cult following just like it's predecessor however I was slightly disappointed with how underdeveloped the plot actually was in this film and although the acting from most characters was excellent the shaky storyline really drags this film down. It's watchable but only once.

The DVD is available from play.com for £5.99.

The special features include:
In-vision commentary with Noel Clarke and the cast
Audio commentary by Noel Clarke
From Kidulthood to Adulthood: The making of The music of
Adulthood Bashy music video behind the scenes
Bashy 'from Kidulthood to Adulthood' music video
Sway music video behind the scenes
The cast and characters
Cast and crew screening
Jump off party
Premier and party behind the scenes
Regional press tour
Adam Deacon: About to blow
Original theatrical trailer

Summary: Only worth one watch.