Home Entertainment: ‘Nemesis’ digital review

From producer Jonathan Sothcott and co-starring Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott comes the first movie made under their new banner Shogun Films. Nemesis is a solid British crime drama cum home-invasion thriller starring a superb Billy Murray as an underworld kingpin who flies into London and an unexpected world of trouble from his semi-retirement abroad.

Murray is the aforementioned John Morgan, a man who is clearly enjoying the fruits of his labour in later life. We meet him and wife Sadie as they fly into the capital on board a luxury private jet, sipping champagne and looking forward to a variety of events that await them on the ground during their brief stay. They are met at a London airport by young protégé and nephew to John, Eddie (Danny Bear), who waits on the tarmac leaning against a flashy car, definitely looking the part. However, there is more than a little bit of trouble awaiting them at a lavish dinner later that evening when Nick Moran’s pissed-up copper Frank Conway arrives in a vendetta-kinda-mood to have a go at Morgan in front of his well-to-do guests.

Meanwhile, across town, Kate (Ambra Moore), John and Sadie’s daughter, is planning to introduce mum and dad to her partner – her girlfriend Zoe (Lucy Aarden) for the very first time. There’s also Frank Harper’s Richard, John’s brother, who hasn’t taken to John winding down on his duties too well, and has more than a bone to pick with Eddie. To sort it all out, the family arranges a dinner party in the Morgan’s swanky London apartment, an event which sees the movie dramatically switch genres during its final third as a gang of seriously tooled-up masked intruders start beating on the door.

You have to hand it to the Sothcott stable for their attempts to disrupt usual genre tropes for this new offering. True, there are some of the familiar bumps and some glaring clichés that you’d expect from a crime movie of this nature, but both Sothcott, director James Crow and writer Adam Stephen Kelly have thrown in the odd curveball, too. The movie has classic British gangster movie vibes – think back to those ’70s and ’80s fares like The Long Good Friday or even Death Wish in terms of tone and feel rather than the cockney geezer stuff we’ve been bashed with over the past decade or so – and then throw in a disturbing horror/ home invasion theme alao You’re Next for the final bit, and you get a feel of what it is aiming for.

It all just about works, and the filmmakers have assembled a wonderful cast to populate the feature’s small cast of characters; from overlord boss Damien Osborne (a brief, but dastardly Bruce Payne), to the always reliable Frank Harper, Ricky Grover’s insightful London bartender Billy, Ambra Moore, granddaughter of the late, great Sir Roger, and the legendary screen veteran Julian Glover.

Nemesis‘ biggest asset though is its star, Billy Murray. This is the best we’ve seen him for years, and Nemesis sees his welcomed return to feature films. He dominates every scene he is in, is totally believable as Morgan, and clearly relishes playing this kind of character. Moran, hot off of directing Creation Stories, the recently released Alan McGee biopic – which I also really quite liked – is also superb as troubled cop Frank Conway. The subplot of him trying to get revenge over Morgan is front and centre during the first third, but then is side-lined for the latter scenes, the story concentrating on the main family and the hostiles infiltrating their abode. I would have liked to have seen more of this from Moran and his journey with Morgan, however, the thread of his particular narrative is ultimately tied up nicely by the end credits.

Shogun Films offers the total package with this first effort; belting opening title sequence, original motion picture soundtrack featuring a cracking score, featured song (from Talia Dean), and tie-in books, all backed by strong, consistent social presence. They clearly mean business. Nemesis as a feature is far from flawless, but these filmmakers know their audience. For a late night crime throwback thriller, it’s a strong debut with a solid cast, and certainly worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre.