Bonded by Blood

"Brutal … even better than Rise of the Footsoldier", said one critic about "Bonded by Blood", no doubt while counting the pound notes inside a vanilla envelope. Lot of critics have shredded „Rise of the Footsoldier", the second film about the infamous Rettendon Range Rover killings: too brutal, too many drugs, too much swearing and a rather inconsistent storyline. However, friends of violent British gangster / hooligan films have declared "Footsoldier" a cult-movie and wondered why there seemed a need to have the story filmed a third time. The main reason why a "Footsoldier"-fan would want to watch "Bonded by Blood" is the return of many actors from the first film: Terry Stone reprises the role of the foul-mouthed Tony Tucker; albeit a somehow polished version, without the ludicrous wig he had to wear in "Footsoldier", replaced with a cheap suit looking like a leftover from "Goodfellas" and a Terry Stone who at all times looked uncomfortable, not sure why he was there in the first place. Neil Maskell, having a minor role as Darren Nicholls in the prior film, plays Craig Rolfe; physically more accurate in "Bounded for Blood", his character pales in comparison to the slimy, malicious Rolfe that Roland Manookian had played. Jack Whomes, in both films the man who fires the first shots into the Range Rover, is played by Dave Legeno, who had a small role as hooligan in "Rise of the Footsoldier". Prior Ben Harper played Whomes as a psychopathic henchman, his final scene giving the viewers chills, but the Whomes of this movie is no more than a robotic hulk with a shotgun. And while we're on the topic of miscasting: whatever gave the producers the impression that Pat Tate was Turkish? A highlight could have been Vincent Regan, whose hawk-like eyes and chiselled features made him one of the more memorable characters in Zack Snyder's "300". Alas, Regan playing the burned out gangster Mickey Steele, is wasted in this role, looking all the while as if he just hadn't slept enough before shooting. If you compare "Rise of the Footsoldier" to a hooligan on steroid-rage, "Bonded by Blood" is more like a backdoor-dealer on tranquilizers: there's plenty of pointless talking, occasional cussing, beatings and shootings, bits of nudity and bits of drug-taking. About midway the viewer stops caring for the one-dimensional characters, waiting for the infamous Range Rover shooting scene, the bloody and very realistic highlight of "Footsoldier". The scene comes, shotguns are emptied (more or less in the off) into the occupants of the Rover and the viewer is left with a distinct sentiment of "so what". In Germany, "Bonded by Blood" has been released under the moniker "Footsoldier 2", hoping to rehash the success of the 2008 film but personally, I hope that the "Footsoldier"-fans won't fall for that promotional gimmick – unlike me, who naturally pulled his wallet when the film hit the shelves. I'll give it a well-meaning three points out of ten but if I had to watch the film again, I'd probably reduce that to two.

As someone whose taste in cinema does not usually run to much violence, choice language or blood (vampires excepted); I really enjoyed this film! No mere fest of foul language, tough guys, hot chicks, dangerous drugs, big guns, oh, and a Porche for good measure - although it's all there - "Bonded by Blood" has much more going for it. Cleverly directed by Sacha Bennett, this film has excellent touches of visual humour, some very funny lines, and a number of intense performances. There is even a Shakespeare reference - but don't let that put you off! Tamer Hassan as Pat Tate, high on cocaine and drunk on machismo is superbly scary. You have to duck when he starts pumping out the expletives. Altogether a much classier offering than previous efforts in this genre.

Rise Of The Footsoldier was such an accomplished film that you would be mistaken for thinking that a prequel would be of as equally high a calibre. Disappointly this is a stinker. The narrative behind Rise Of The Footsoldier gave it a clarity of purpose. The script was rather witty. This film is glum. The dialogue doesn't sparkle. Plenty of "c" and "f" curse words but not used in an amusing way at all. The biggest shocker for me here was that Pat Tate was played by Tamer Hassan instead of Craig Fairbrass, Terry Stone reprises his role as Tony Tucker but Craig Rolfe here is portrayed by Neil Maskell instead of Ronald Manookian. I couldn't believe it when the film portrayed the Rettendon murders yet again. Eh, I thought this was a prequel, and not an inferior sister film ? Ricci Harnett's presence as Carlton Leech is sadly missed. He was quite a presence in Rise Of The Footsoldier. I can't help feeling that Julian Gilbey would have done a better job as director here, but of course he probably had the good sense not to get involved in this. It's obviously a cash-in and quite a poor one at that.

Im not understanding all the bad reviews here. I think to watch this movie for a start you need to have the acquired taste of east-end London cockney slang and gangster culture (drugs, sex and a lot of the word c**t) I was sceptical about this one... i kind of gave up with anything Tamar Hassan is in due to the disappointing movie releases he has had since The Business by Nick Love. I watched the likes of city Rats for example and was shocked he would take part in such a crap movie after the success of the Business. I feel like Tamar Hassan has been trying to get that 'right movie' of the cockney gangster that works well and has failed until this one! I saw this on Netflix so on a rainy day gave it a go with super low expectations expecting to turn off by the quarter way through mark. I was wrong, i was hooked on this one. Had a good few laughs at the raging scenes which are full of colourful language and i thought the storyline was enough to keep me watching. Stunned at all the bad reviews on here.

"Better than Rise of the Footsoldier" i don't think so.Having lived close to Rettendon for most of my life i've followed media reports and read many books on the now famous "Range Rover killings" and was looking forward to watching this film.What a waste of time!...if you don't know the story or details about the Essexboy murders then this film won't help you in any way...it will only leave you bored and confused.The production fails on many levels.The acting and script are beyond words in my opinion,there's little in construction of character building or realism,there's no background or explanation of the story and to be honest i can't see why this film was ever made.After the success of Julian Gilbey's ROTFS,which is a brilliant and outstanding work of art,this is an embarrassment.Carlton Leach's version of events seem and probably are more accurate than this poor effort which claims to be "The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth" It looks like Bernard O Mahoney and the makers of this film are just cashing in!...As i said forget about this!.... Watch ROTFS instead!

There have been a couple of previous films about the Essex Range Rover murders. Both were pretty forgettable but neither are anywhere near as bad as Bonded by Blood. It's quite a rare thing to have a film where every actor on display is no good. You usually get one stand out performance but with this movie everyone stinks. Tamer Hussan plays his usual role as Mokney Cockney Essex wide boy and you wouldn't expect any different from a one trick pony actor like him but it grates on you when there are people trying to out " Essex " him on screen. Terry Stone and Neil Maskell are so over the top with their acting it's laughable. I also have problem with the director of this mess. It must have taken great skill for Sacha Bennett to make a film look such a mess.It has no form or structure and events happen with no explanation while other threads are dropped and forgotten about. The only good thing about Bonded by Blood is that the Essex tosser Danny Dyer isn't in it but that's hardly a reason to watch this trash. Avoid

I went to see this film with a couple of friends one of which had read all the books. I had seen Essex Boys but not Return of the Foot Soldier and was quite looking forward to this film. I love gangster films and obviously being a bit of an Essex boy and been to the places mentioned in the film in the early nineties was quite looking forward to this film. However I was absolutely disappointed. Although the acting was just about OK but not entirely believable the depiction of 90's Essex is nothing short of atrocious. The night club Raquels was a big night club in basildon essex but in the film it looks like a bar out of Neighbours. The fashions were a cross between 80's and the noughties. At not one point in the film did I feel I was in the 90's. The fashions were all wrong. Blokes were wearing suits or tucked in shirts (this would have no doubt got you a good seeing too in 90's Essex but was considered normal in the film) and no curtains in sight. The women were wearing heavy 80's makeup, tight tops short skirts and platform stilettos...I don't remember that in the 90's it was more cover your self up baggy tops, bobbed hair, bell bottoms and clumpy shoes! Even the scenes on Southend Pier included modern infrastructure that was never around in the 90's. Overall it was just about watchable but whoever was responsible for the depiction of 90's Essex should have been taken away in a 'K' reg Range Rover and shot!

As someone whose taste in cinema does not usually run to much violence, choice language, or blood (vampires excepted); I really enjoyed this film! No mere fest of foul language, tough guys, hot chicks, dangerous drugs, big guns, oh, and a Porche for good measure - although it's all there - "Bonded by Blood" has much more going for it. Cleverly directed by Sacha Bennett, this film has excellent touches of visual humour, some very funny lines, and a number of intense performances. There is even a Shakespeare reference - but don't let that put you off! Tamer Hassan as Pat Tate, high on cocaine and drunk on machismo is superbly scary. You have to duck when he starts pumping out the expletives. Altogether a much classier offering than previous efforts in this genre.

i had already seen the firs two movies based on the essex boys and the range rover murders, 'essex boys' was good but wasn't very truthfull and 'rise of the footsoldier' a brilliant movie and one of my favourites. so i was looking forward to 'bonded by blood' and it didn't disappoint, the cast was brilliant in there role's, the story was accurate, and the movie was also very funny, terry stone and tamer hassan were great together, and the scenes with tamer hassan and Vincent Regan was very tense. the movie looks a lot classier than 'rise of the footsoldier' and 'essex boys' and it's better made, the movie dosen't rely on ultra violence every few minutes unlike 'rise of the footsoldier' although there is still plenty of violence here, instead the movie focuses on the relationship of tamer hassan and Vincent Regan's characters 'pat Tate' and 'mickey Steele', and when they fall out, the movie get's very tense. where as 'rise of the footsoldier' took a very realistic almost documentary approach to the material, 'bonded by blood' plays out more like a thriller, and if you didn't already know the story, you would't really know whitch way this was gonna go, but that aside, the movie sticks to the facts and presents them to you, sure there are some things that are left out of the movie, but 'rise of the footsoldier' already showed them, and why repeat the same thing over again. this is the most cinematic of the three essex boys movie's and probably has the best cast, it's a very nasty and violent story, and if your familiar with it, then you are gonna have an idea of what your expecting. the movie is quite violent, but toned down from 'rise of the footsoldier', more violent than 'essex boys though, and anybody expecting the very realistic and accurate range rover murders like in 'rise of the footsoldier' will be very disappointed, the murder does happen here, but it's quick, short and to the point, and the movie has a good ending that shows that this whole saga ruined many lifes. fans of British gangster movies should definitely check it out, and ignore all the negative feedback from people that wanted an over blown violent romp like 'rise of the footsoldier', and remember that is one of my favourite films, but anybody wanting a solid British gangster movie, should definitely check this out. there are three other movies based on the essex boys and the range rover murders namely 2000's essex boys, 2007's rise of the footsoldier, and 2013's the fall of the essex boys

Apparently this is movie is the truest depiction of the story of what happened to the 'Essex Boys' back in the mid nighties. It's definitely a lads action movie, but you'd expect that from the name. A slow start, as you got to grips with the characters and their relationships with each other, but it soon hots up, with plenty of action. From what i've heard and previously read it seems to be a fair account of what happened, and although it's a movie i'd like to think the portrayal didn't sensationalise what actually happened. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and would definitely watch again.