Jack Said

A prequel to the straight-to-DVD title ‘Jack Says’, this aims for the stark graphic look and hardboiled noir feel of ‘Sin City’, and misses by a mile. Lacking the wizardry needed to reproduce the graphic novel’s visuals, it’s just another London-set gangster movie populated by tough geezers called The Guv’nor, The Fixer and The Boss.

The eponymous Jack (Simon Phillips), a hard-drinking undercover cop, has infiltrated the gang run by The Guv’nor and his psycho daughter. Things go pear-shaped when Jack’s chancer pal Nathan (Danny Dyer, right) asks him to babysit his sister Erin (Rita Ramnani), and does a runner with The Guv’nor’s mysterious box. Compromised, Jack does what he’s told, watches as Natalie plots to usurp her father, and waits for the fat lady to sing.

If writer Paul Tanter’s voiceover and dialogue had been delivered with any conviction, it might have distracted us from the dull visuals, over-complicated flash-back/flash-forward structure and TV soap opera-style acting.