''Face'' is a 1997 British

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Antonia Bird Antonia Jane Bird, FRSA (27 May 1951 – 24 October 2013Kate Hardi"Antonia Bird obituary" ''The Guardian'', 28 October 2013) was an English producer and director of television drama and feature films. Career In 1968, at the age of 17, Bird beg ...

and written by

Ronan Bennett Ronan Bennett (born 14 January 1956) is an Irish novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the drug and gang-related crime drama television series ''Top Boy''. His other writing cred ...

. It stars

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes: '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' The Full Monty'' (1997), '' Ravenous'' and ''The World Is Not Enough'' (both 1999), '' There's Only One Jimmy Grimble'' (2000), '' ...

and

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...

and features the acting debut of musical artist

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

Plot

Five men, criminals Ray, Dave, Stevie, Julian ("Julie" as a nickname), and Jason, plan a heist to steal a minimum of £2 million. Using a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

modified as a

battering ram A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried ...

, the group break into a security depot in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and steal a large amount of money before the police arrive. They discover they got much less money than they expected and only get £68,000 each. Julian demands an extra sum for "expenses" for his work but is beaten and placed in the boot of Ray's car until he accepts his share. The group, without Julian, later spend time at a bar with Jason's uncle and fellow criminal Sonny, and Ray's girlfriend Connie, a protester. Ray and Stevie also visit an elderly couple, Linda and Bill, where they leave their stolen money for safekeeping. The next day, Ray and Stevie, who live together with Connie, are alerted by a bruised Dave that his money was stolen, apparently by Julian. Ray, Dave, and Stevie investigate Linda and Bill's home to find them murdered and the money stolen, leaving Ray distraught. He visits Julian but his money is missing too. They conclude that Sonny stole the money and break into his house, only to find Jason dead with a head wound. The four are alerted to a pair of undercover police officers and flee, Dave and Julian exchanging fire with the police. Believing that he may be arrested for murder, Ray decides to flee after the money is found and goes to his mother and Connie for help. His mother gives him some money and her car to use, disappointed in her son's career but still caring for him. Ray then speaks with Connie and asks her to come with him and to meet her at a roadside service station on the M1 if she decides to come. Ray visits the bar and learns from John the bartender that Dave left in a taxi with Jason and Sonny after the heist. Dave is beaten and interrogated by Ray, Stevie, and Julian, revealing he was being

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

ed by his daughter's boyfriend Chris, a corrupt police officer, to gain him the money to protect his daughter from harm. Dave also murdered Linda, Bill, Jason, and Sonny. The group attacks Chris in his apartment and he is forced to reveal that the money is in a locker room at a local police station. Dave is taken upstairs by the rest of the gang whereupon he sees a tray of prepared cocaine, enraging Dave to the point that he chokes Chris to death. Stevie and Julian remove Sarah and Ray shoots Dave for his treachery and his murders. Ray, Stevie, and Julian sneak into the police station and recover the money but Julian turns on the other two and takes all the money. An alarm goes off, prompting Julian to go on a shooting frenzy and makes a one-man stand against all the police in the building, whilst Ray and Stevie, who is shot in the leg during the madness, escape with Julian's fate assumed to be being arrested after being knocked out with a gas bomb. They go to the M1 service station and are picked up by Connie, the three driving off to begin life anew.

Cast

– Ray *

– Dave *

Steven Waddington Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his starring role as the title role of Derek Jarman's '' Edward II'' and supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''. E ...

– Stevie * Philip Davis – Julian *

– Jason *

Lena Headey Lena Kathren Headey ( ; born 3 October 1973) is an English actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO fantasy drama series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which she received ...

– Connie * Andrew Tiernan – Chris *

Peter Vaughan Peter Ewart Ohm (4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016), known professionally as Peter Vaughan, was an English actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on stage. Vaughan played Gr ...

– Sonny *

Christine Tremarco Christine Tremarco (born 1977) is a British actress. Her career began in 1992 when, at the age of 15, she starred as Lily in the ABC/BBC miniseries ''The Leaving of Liverpool'', for which she was nominated for an AACTA Award. Other television ...

– Sarah *

Sue Johnston Sue Johnston (born Susan Wright; 7 December 1943) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy '' The Royle Family'' (1998–2012), G ...

– Alice * Steve Sweeney – Weasel *

Gerry Conlon Gerard Patrick Conlon (1 March 1954 – 21 June 2014) was an Irish man known for being one of the Guildford Four who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of being a Provisional IRA bomber. Biography Gerard Conlon was born in ...

– Vince

Release

The film opened in the UK on 26 September 1997 and grossed £292,043 from 126 cinemas in its opening weekend, placing at seventh at the box office.

Soundtrack

Track listing
01. "Everything Has a Price to Pay" -

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

02. " Feel the Sunshine (DJ Pulse Remix)" - Alex Reece
03. "Opium Shuffle" -

Death in Vegas Death in Vegas is an English electronic music group, for which Richard Fearless serves as frontman. The band was formed in 1994 by Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record ...

04. "London Calling" -

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

05. "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" -

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

06. "Atom Bomb" - Fluke
07. "Kill me" -

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

08. "Doin' Jobz 4tha Mob (Radio Edit)" - Pigforce
09. "New Era"
10. "Lucky" -

Lewis Taylor Lewis Taylor (born 20 January 1966) is a British multi-instrumentalist musician, born and raised in Barnet, North London, England, in the late 1960s. He started in the music business as a guitarist touring with the psychedelic rock band Edgar B ...

11. "Subside" -

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

12. "Snakes Pass (Remix)" - A.P.E.
13. "On and On" -

Longpigs Longpigs were an English indie rock band who rose to fame on the fringe of Britpop in the 1990s, comprising Crispin Hunt (vocals, guitar), Richard Hawley (guitar), Simon Stafford (bass guitar) and former Cabaret Voltaire member Dee Boyle (dru ...

14. "London, Can You Wait?" -

Gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

15. "Standing in Your Shadow" - Puressence
16. "Bullet" - Fluke

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Face (1997 Film) 1997 films 1997 crime drama films British crime drama films 1990s English-language films British heist films British films about revenge Films set in London Films shot in London Films directed by Antonia Bird 1990s British films English-language crime films United International Pictures films