Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Furuya Shiro Saying frankly, I did not enjoy, nor being moved by the movie. The story is neither dramatic nor exciting. The lead character is not well defined and thus easy to confuse the audience. After watching it, being little bit disappointed, I went out to walk my dog, but the movie occupied my thought even after I came home. This is a story in railway workers in the UK, however I could see similar situation in Japan too. In Japan, many companies are gradually recovering from serious downfall. But during the process of profit recovery, companies have replaced fixed-cost employees by variable cost contract workers. As a result, the lifetime employment system has collapsed, and the power of the unions, the members of which are employees only, have been eroding. At the same time, number of contract workers, who do not have systematic training and skills building, has increased. In this trend the gap between peoples of high wages and low wages are becoming wider. British society has been many years the forerunner in the world of winning the rights of workers. But these rights are now too easily forgotten under the pressure of global economy. This is a social crisis in longer term. At least this movie has succeeded to portray this crisis.

silverauk The subject is the dead of British rail. Just as "Fermeture des usines Renault à Vilvoorde", it describes the changes and the insecurity of the closing down of the old management and the changes with the new boss Gilchrist Engineering in South Yorkshire in 1995. This movie is based on the memories of railway-man Rob Dawber who wrote the script. The workers have now to work with unexperienced part-time workers. The working conditions are poor and this has its consequences on the quality of the work. The overtaking by a private company brings more profit but it has its side-effects. The workers are mostly real workers from Sheffield and you can hear it from their accent. The maintenance of the railways is very poor and the movie has a dark humor because the result is that some people die. The liberal industrial policy as a result of the Thatcher government means that the state has no longer the control on essential security matters. Good description of the family tragedy when some loose their jobs. Thomas Craig (Mick) and Joe Duttine (Paul) are good.

Keith John Ryan The usual descriptions have been "grim" and "gritty", this overlooks just how funny the dialogue and some of the situations are.And the actors performances are so convincing you forget that they are actors and not in a 'docu-soap'. Much more true to life than 'The Full Monty'

Janita Dusbee Since I was in Florence by the time I saw this movie, and since the walls of my hotel were not very thicker than 1 inch, and since my neihgbours were noisy beyond range, and since this was about the most boring movie I have ever seen, I can't imagine myself sleeping deeper than this. The Odeon Cinema in Florence has a really magnificent ceiling, the chairs are comfortable but their color is disgusting, and the Italian people surrounding me were very silent. The only thing making any sound at all were the people mumbling somethin on the screen (when you're Dutch, like I am, and haven't slept for days, it's really hard to understand.) By no means I feel the need to be rude, but I was waiting for someone to die for the entire time, and when it finally, finally happened, the movie ended.This could all have been an episode from a very dreadful soap, but you usually don't pay money to see soaps. Other images, like the ice-skating couple or the three-legged dog, are distracting. The only thing good about the movie, in my opinion, was the acting - everything BUT over-acted. But it actually ruins the film even more, since over-acting would have brought some suspense to the film. Yelling, crying, hugging, things that would ruin most movies I like, would actually have kept me really awake. THe only reason preventing me from complete relaxation, was the fact that I was the one who had to write a rapport about the film. In short: do not attempt to copy if you happen to be a film-maker. I heard on several occasions that Ken Loach's work is great, but after seeing this, I think I'll let the opportunity to see more of his work, pass.