Hyena

Dir: Gerard Johnson

2014

*****

Gerard Johnson’s brutal police corruption thriller wasn’t only one of the best films of 2014, I think it is one of the best contemporary British films made this side of the millennium – and I’m struggling to think of any film of it’s type as good that has been made since the early 80s. I was totally blown away by it and I’m puzzled and somewhat devastated that it has been so criminally overlooked. The performances are second to none, with each actor giving it their all and the look of the film being a fine example that neo-realism can be beautiful too. It stars the brilliant Peter Ferdinando as corrupt police detective Michael Logan. Working in London’s drug division, he is in contact with various drug syndicates and through influence has allowed just one to rule the city, for a small fee of course. Logan turns a blind eye to the syndicate’s other crimes and while he is clearly in it for himself, you can tell his actions also simplify the crime levels in his area. However, when visiting a contact in the Turkish drug cartel at his business front, two Albanian gangsters storm in and behead their competition. Logan manages to hide before they spot him, but now his retirement job he planned with the Turks is over, he knows he will have to approach the Albanian Kabashis brothers and try the same plan with them, otherwise he looses all the money he’s invested – his entire life savings. However, the Kabashis brothers are harder to deal with and their other crimes are hard for Logan to overlook. Meanwhile, his colleagues get suspicious that he’s making deals without them, they get cocky and become investigated themselves. Just when things seem bad they get worse when a former colleague (played by the spectacular Stephen Graham) joins the vice task force as his superior. Their history tainted by a multitude of backstabbing wrong-doings, Logan tries to gauge how much he can trust his new boss, and indeed, any of his colleague or crime contacts. Logan takes the drugs he seizes, commits crime and abuses his power but still has a set of ethics he lives by, so when he comes across a victim of sex trafficking, he can’t help but intervene, with devastating effects. This is one brutal, cold and dark thriller. It’s glorious. Crime ain’t pretty and Gerard Johnson is right to show it how it is, rather than the glamorous thing Hollywood, Guy Richie etc would have you believe. The story twists and turns and the characters constantly evolve but the narrative is consistently bleak, full of suspense, with a gloriously overpowering sense of doom. It certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted, and some of the scenes of graphic violence will turn even the strongest of stomachs. I was so worried at first that it was going to be just another south London geezer gangster film but that was put to rest fairly early on. It’s a film that assures you its going the way you expect, before jolting you in a direction you don’t expect and are frightened to go down. Gerard Johnson gets the very best from his actors and produces a gritty film that is grittier than a grit sandwich on a windy beach. Hyena puts the thrill into thriller, then hammers, kicks and pneumatic drills it in.