A CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED Irish crime drama is available to watch on Netflix now.
Broken Law stars Tristan Heanue and Graham Earley as two estranged brothers who find themselves on opposing sides of the law in Dublin. While Dave (Heanue) is a decent and highly respected police officer hoping to follow in his late father’s footsteps, Joe (Earley) is an ex-con only just out of prison and heading down a dangerous path.
The film opens with Joe roped into a robbery job by two thugs, Pete and Wallace, played with ever-increasing menace by Ryan Lincoln and John Connors. Connors previously earned plaudits for his work in the 2017 crime drama Cardboard Gangsters, which he both starred in and co-wrote, and he’s on top form once again here.
While initially affable and friendly to Joe, Connors’s Wallace soon emerges as a ruthless, violent criminal and someone you shouldn’t cross. When Dave happens to foil the gang’s robbery plans by sheer fate, it sets off a chain of events that test the dedicated police officer’s loyalties to breaking point.
A crime drama that blends humour, romance and some impressive action sequences, Broken Law represents writer and director Paddy Slattery’s feature debut. Previously titled Let Your Guard Down and The Broken Law of Attraction, it’s taken Slattery nearly a decade to complete via a crowdfunding campaign.
During that time, he produced and directed a string of well-received short films, all while continuing work on his passion project, which was ultimately made on extremely small budget. In truth, however, that belies what is a slick, inventive and consistently engaging film which takes what could have been a hackneyed premise and injects fresh life into with a script and plot that proves unpredictable from start to finish.
While Slattery deserves huge credit for the writing and directing, Broken Law is further bolstered by impressive performances across the board, including that of Gemma-Leah Deveraux as the young clerk who ends up embroiled in the robbery and romantically entwined with Dave.
The film debuted at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival last year, where it wowed critics. Since then, it has gone on to earn a string of hugely positive reviews.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised it for having “loads of energy and belligerent moxie” while Donald Clarke of The Irish Times praised Slattery for delivering “a digestible slice of Dublin life that will win him fans and will open doors to new possibilities.” Paddy Kehoe at RTE described the film as “gritty and engaging” with “fine performances all around” with Hugh Whelan of Film Ireland describing it as “a refreshing taking on the often predictable ‘cop film’ narrative.”
The universal acclaim granted to the film by critics across the board has seen it earn the coveted 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregator website many movies live and die by. Best of all for anyone eager to see what all the fuss is about, Broken Law is available to watch on Netflix right now and, as all of the above demonstrates, comes highly recommended.
With the WizKids over at Netflix always keeping a close eye on user algorithms, opting for a night in watching one of the best Irish films of recent times will not only boost the profile of talented Irish filmmakers like Slattery, it may even convince them to add a few more Irish titles to the roster.
Broken Law is also available to rent on Amazon Prime.
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