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‘London Rampage’ – Advance preview…

London Rampage

After being promoted at Cannes earlier this year, ‘London Rampage’ moves closer to a UK release date. Mike Leeder got a sneaky peek at the capital chaos…


London Rampage“So you think you know London? You don’t know nothing!”

London Rampage is a new film that takes you on a dark and a dangerous journey through the other side of the UK capital, as Darren (Greg Burridge) returns home after 10 years away… only to find a very different city to the one he left behind. It’s a time of financial uncertainty for many people, and if drugs, extortion, guns and underground fights offer a better cash flow than working down the supermarket… well, you know what some people are going to choose!

Now it’s sink or swim as Darren fights to make a better world for his family, while society makes it increasingly difficult for him to walk the honest side of the tracks. He finds himself faced with having to cross those tracks once more… but if he’s to keep fighting – this time he has something to fight for!

UK wrestler Gregg Burridge writes, produces, edits, choreographs and stars in London Rampage giving usa stylised UK grindhouse flick which, while shot on a modest budget ,delivers plenty of punch for the pounds spent. Presented mostly in stark black and white with occasional bursts of colour, at times it almost feels like one of those 1960s Play for Todays given a Sin City meets Lucha Libre In Your Face makeover! Its got plenty of action as the fights rage from the streets to the ring, through the back alleys and squats and more. It also delivers pretty well on the drama side of things – you find yourself pulling for Burridge’s character as he’s drawn into a world where its fight or die.

Burridge makes good use of his budget and some offbeat locations across London. Many of the fighters in the film are members of the ‘265’, the fight design team from the London School of Lucha Libre where Gregg and Gary Vanderhorne teach not only pro-wrestling for the ring but also film fighting for stage and screen.

I’ve battled through all manner of low budget action movie over the years as a viewer and a producer, and while its easy to sit back and point out the negative aspects of a production, I’ll always take my hat off to the people who got the movie finished: There’s a million cocky film-makers who could do well but whose unfinished films languish in a cupboard somewhere.

Is London Rampage perfect? No, but that’s part of its charm. It is rough and ready film-making and it fits the story and the tone. Burridge throws a lot of ideas into the mix – not everything hits the target as precisely as he might hope for, but it’s a very entertaining 90 minutes or so. After so many would-be UK gangster movies (where everyone is pulling guns and posturing) I enjoyed seeing people beat the living daylights out of each other, with some very impressive hits, takedowns and reactions from Burridge and many of the fighters.

Equally, there may be a few too many “Get out, you slag!’ deliveries and perhaps a tad too much swearing, but I was entertained. The film made its market debut at Cannes and early word on the movie has been good… and deservedly so. I’d love to see Burridge given a bigger budget to work with and some more experienced crew, so that he’s not having to wear quite as many hats as he did on this one (and so he can have a few more people on which he can bounce off creative decisions and ideas. I love the in your face brutality of much of it, but a few times I wanted to see the beauty of the moves! However I certainly look forward to see Greg’s next project and where he goes from here.

He’s certainly got the physicality, a very good look: he’s got the Jason Stathmam’esque hero look, he’s not the catwalk model trying to look a hardman. You can see he’s fought for real and it fits the character. He’s not a bad actor either, and he’s certainly not afraid of the camera. There’s a scene near the end where he breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly and he carries that off very well, without mugging or winking as he does so. Give this man some support both behind the camera, and when the film comes out by picking up a copy (especially as he might otherwise do some flying backflip twisty turning move and knock your block if you don’t!)

The message is: Support Indie Film making…especially Indie Action Movie Making!  It’s one thing to make a low budget kitchen sink drama on a few bucks, its another to make a full blooded action movie! And London Rampage is a making a mess on your best shirt, high impact hard as nails fight flick!

Follow the film and show your support on Facebook or at http://londonrampage.com/ or http://gregburridge.net/

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