Crimefighters

The producers of ‘Crimefighters’ must have been mortified when ‘Kick-Ass’ hove into view: a big-budget behemoth riffing on exactly the themes of superheroism, vigilantism and social justice that fuel this ambitious DIY gem. There’s a crimewave on the mean streets of York, forcing three hipster chums to don masks and take a stand. It doesn’t hurt that one of them knows karate, one owns a costume shop and one really, really needs to get laid.
‘Crimefighters’ bears all the hallmarks of a homemade production: cramped locations, crudely orchestrated action and performers who mistake enthusiasm for ability. But what it lacks in art it more than makes up for in heart: this is an enormously likeable film, part love letter to a great but under-filmed city (one character wears a self-altered T-shirt reading ‘I heart Y’), part shambolic, wonderfully unpredictable rom-com and part haphazard meditation on crime and punishment, culminating in a series of climactic revelations which are smart, surprising and genuinely funny. Move over, Matthew Vaughn.