Starring: Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Scarlett Alice Johnson Directed by: Noel Clarke Screenplay written by: Noel Clarke Tagline: After 'Kidulthood' comes 'Adulthood' ...
Dude Where's My Hood...
Plot:
Not Straight Outta Compton, but straight out of jail and back on the mean streets of London this movie picks up on the events of what happened six years after the first movie, we find that the so called hunter has now become the hunted. Our murdering little hooligan has just come out of prison after doing his time and has realised that he is now a wanted man. Concerned for the safety of his mum and his brother, he desperately goes around all his old haunts trying to find out who's looking for him. And as he does, he must fully come to terms with the devastation his fateful actions that night six years ago had, on his mother, the mother of Trife's daughter, his brother and Trife's friends, including Moony (Femi Oyeniran) who's made something of his life and is studying law and on the other end of the coin Jay (Adam Deacon) the hyper-mouthed, aggressive one from the first film who's now a drug dealer and is especially insistent that Sam must pay the ultimate price for killing his friend...
Review:
Adulthood was the best title they could come up with? Even "Kidulthood 2" would've sounded better. Can't wait for the third installment, "Grown-up-hood" to be released. Or will it be "Elderlyhood"? Or maybe even "Seniorhood"? The movie will be about old men beating each other with walking sticks, groaning "Oiii blud, I'll mash up your false teeth blud!" until they all die of heart failure, which will then cause them to make "Reincarnationhood". And since everything gets prequeled these days, they could even make a prequel called "Babyhood", which will be about babies bashing up other babies with a rattle.
This is a bit better than the original movie as the melodrama and action are finely balanced. There were one or two contrivances that were a little beyond expected reality, but they weren't totally unreasonable. It is after all a drama and some concessions need to made to keep the suspense. The characters are all extremely believable and the cast all contribute with good performances. Noel Clarke's own performance is outstanding and was pleasantly surprised at the depth of character he manages to portray. There is so much more to Noel Clarke than being known as a "Doctor Who" companion. Scarlet Alice Johnson (Vicki from Eastenders) also gave a good performance, depite the role being originally intended for Jamie Winstone from "Kidulthood".
The groups of youths were good apart from Dabs played by Plan B (aka Ben Drew). I didn't think he was a very good choice for his character. For those un-aware, Plan B is a British Youth Rapper from East London, who's single Kidz was used in the Kidulthood soundtrack. Sam's brother was good, however and I was very impressed with his acting. Adam Deacon who plays Jay and Femi Oyeniran who plays Moony gave great performances as well. Especially Adam who shows his acting abilities at the end scene.
There were some cringeworthy scenes with unintentional humour, but it wasn't as bad as "Kidulthood". Also the word "blud" is used one too many times in this movie, They should have peppered the script with a few more "mate"s and "bred"s.
I think Noel Clarke should be justly proud of his achievement in writing , starring and directing (his first attempt too) this genuinely entertaining film. This film didn't fail to deliver, unlike the original movie as the storyline is far more prominent than in "Kidulthood", and so are the messages and themes. Although if you go to watch Adulthood without having already seen Kidulthood, then you should think again as the whole plot revolves around what happened in the first film.
This, along with Sean Meadows work "This Is England", Garth Jennings "Son of Rambow", Paul Andrew Williams "The Cottage" and Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" are fine examples of just how British films are slowly coming back to conquer once more. With imagination and self-confidence, we can look forward to these conquering heroes expanding further afield.
I'd go ***1/2.
Fun Fact: This movie was backed by UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund and The UK National Lottery.
Trailer:
Bashy - From Kidulthood to Adulthood
The soundtrack to this movie was also great thanks to Ashley Thomas aka Bashy. He chose some great songs and artists for the soundtrack. They had some great songs like Kidulthood to Adulthood, Who R U, F Ur X and many more. I really wanted them to use Dot Rotten because it would of gone well with the film.
