Redirected (2014)

Directed by: Emilis Velyvis
Country: Lithuania / UK

Movie Review: “Redirected” is a gangster action comedy film made in Lithuania and UK, being the sophomore feature from Emilis Velyvis who, together with Jonas Banys, also wrote this rambunctious tale. Vinnie Jones stars as Golden Pole, the feared leader of a Londoner gang, whose esteemed ring and money becomes the aim of three greedy friends: Johnny, Tim and Ben, who just added the ‘unavailable’ Michael to their dangerous stratagem at the last minute. After seizing the ‘stuff’, the plan was to flee to Malaysia but the eruption of an Icelandic volcano thwarted their intentions, and the boys are deviated to Lithuania. Apart from the angered Michael, who was literally kidnapped to get into the plane, leaving his girlfriend in England, the other thieves just enjoy their time, partying in a local nightclub. This draws the attention of local thugs and corrupted cops, who simultaneously with the robbed gang arrived from London, will try to grab the dough and butcher its holders. The overcooked plot revealed too much impracticable coincidences and the sequence ‘caught-beaten up-captivity-escape’ was used so many times that before the first 30 minutes we’re already fed up and asking for something new. Speaking of new, “Redirected” was probably the most unoriginal film I saw last year, being a cheap imitation of the mood created by Guy Ritchie in his successful gangster films (“Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, “Snatch” – Vinnie Jones are on both) with the aggravating factor of adding some allegedly humorous scenes that make us more disgusted than pleased. With an anarchy that feels phony, Velyvis selected a lousy way to pass a horrible image of his country.