Writer and director Marc Price (Colin, Magpie, Dune Drifter) has returned to FrightFest with The Arbiter, a crime action thriller set in a version of the UK overtaken by gangs. Thankfully, the script never takes itself too seriously and remembers that it’s always important to laugh in the face of mayhem.
The film opens with a lengthy prologue where the narrator explains the world of our story, where gangs have completely taken over society. Although the prologue does a decent job of setting everything up, it goes on for too long. As the prologue ends, we’re introduced to various individual gang members and an inexperienced police officer named Garry, who decide to meet in an abandoned high-rise building to see if they can negotiate a truce. However, the meeting ultimately results in insults being hurled at each other, before another gang launches an assault on the building. Then, the meeting attendees have to put aside their differences and work together in order to survive.
Comparisons to Dredd and The Raid: Redemption are inevitable as the individuals trapped within the high-rise building are forced to fight their way to freedom against legions of assailants, with devastatingly brutal results. People are shot, stabbed, burned, dismembered, disembowelled, and blown to pieces throughout the course of the film, with the brutality of the kills being one of the main selling points of The Arbiter. And despite the limited budget, the movie is also filled with plenty of lively action sequences, including a massive battle scene towards the end, almost as grand as a battle from a Lord of the Rings movie. It certainly didn’t cost a huge amount to produce, but the makers of The Arbiter still put every penny of their budget to good use to create the spectacular action scenes.
However, the endless bickering between the gang members forced to work together quickly becomes tiresome. But despite the irritating arguments, the actors still did the best with the material they were given.
Craig Russell is in top form as the dominant Verrill, a natural leader who clearly despises working with those he views as incompetent, with Quartey also being impressive as the mild-mannered police officer Garry, who is clearly prepared to do whatever it takes to survive, despite his timid exterior. Jon Xue Zhang, who has worked extensively as a stunt performer in the past, was allowed to showcase his outstanding fighting skills in the role of Stuart, and Alaistair Kirton, (who previously worked with Price on Colin, Dune Drifter, and various other films) delivered a memorable turn as a severely burned but upbeat fighter named Guy.
James Groom also has a huge amount of fun as a fantastical and sadistic Police Chief Sergeant who revels in the chaos that has been unleashed, with Jasmine Sumner also managing to impress as Rusty, a woman who is so used to fighting that it almost seems second nature to her.
Rather than being a generic action film, The Arbiter is also filled with plenty of unpredictable twists and turns. The strong performances and the impressive fight scenes also helped to cement The Arbiter’s position as a highly memorable and pleasingly unpredictable crime thriller.
Summary
The Arbiter offers a unique and exhilarating look at how an all-out gang war in the United Kingdom might look.
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