Payback Season - review

Now that Adam Deacon is Bafta's rising star, perhaps he'll get roles besides the rent-a-rudeboy that's defined his career so far. Not yet, though. For Deacon and his character here, it's the same: just when he thinks he's out, they pull him back in. Jerome is a Premiership footballer trying to escape the gang culture of his youth, but drug dealer Baron (David Ajala) has different ideas. The consequent violence is tarted up with slo-mo effects, when it should have been left to speak for itself, or left out entirely. No amount of yoofsploitation grit could obscure the moral guidance in this story, making it a kids' film in spirit, if not certificate.