Brighton Rock

There are two distinct challenges facing the British crime drama Brighton Rock, and both originated more than 60 years ago.

It’s based on an early Graham Greene novel that is one of the author’s darkest works, and it’s also a remake of a 1947 film adaptation that featured a breakthrough performance by a young Richard Attenborough.

Facing an uphill climb to improve upon either of those versions, this attempt makes a few changes in setting and story but ranks only as a mediocre film noir about a young gangster who turns desperate in his attempts to cover up a murder.

Sam Riley (Control) stars as Pinkie, a young gangster in the seaside town of Brighton in 1964, who becomes a major player in the criminal underworld after a revenge killing underneath the village pier. He finds a potential witness to the crime in Rose, a waitress (Andrea Riseborough) who he begins to date in order to keep her quiet.

The ruthless Pinkie begins a rise through the ranks in his gang before a downfall precipitated by Rose’s boss (Helen Mirren), who was an acquaintance of the murder victim and becomes suspicious of the relationship between Pinkie and Rose as part of a quest to discover the truth.

The film marks the feature directorial debut of Rowan Joffe (son of The Killing Fields director Roland Joffe), and he shows flashes of visual flair and captures the film’s period setting in a dreary town overrun by thugs.

Joffe’s background is in screenwriting (with credits including The American and 28 Weeks Later), but his script lets him down. After a promising set-up, the film settles into a predictable cat-and-mouse storyline that turns up the violence but lacks the moral and emotional complexity of either the novel or the earlier film version, especially when it comes to the spiritual overtones.

Riley makes a compelling adversary for Oscar-winner Mirren, who is excellent as usual. Riseborough (Made in Dagenham) does her best with a character whose loyalty to Pinkie becomes less convincing as the film proceeds.

Yet energy alone can’t rescue a film that becomes muddled once viewers look past the glossy exterior.

Not rated, 106 minutes.