cinematography starts out excellent, actors talented but do not bother with this film. I love Eddie Izzard and Steven MacIntosh; all the other actors were excellent but this was a hateful script, which tortures viewers. We readily identify with MackIntosh's & Natasha Little's characters, so evil done to them is spikes driven into our eyeballs. Not since "Clockwork Orange" have I hated a film so intensely and I admit that Clockwork had redeeming values, art-wise & social commentary-wise. "The Criminal" was a lame excuse for someone who is de-sensitized to violence (whether by video games or limbic system dysfunction) to slam viewers' heads down onto a table. I put it on fast fwd after 20 minutes into the film and made stops to catch up with dialogue, skipping violence. Thus, for me, the film was thankfully 45 minutes long. Despised the ending. Let it be known that my favorite writer is Dostoyevsky. So I'm not a suburban granny making whiny comments. I can handle intensity/violence if the plot is worthwhile & characters get to develop (I have to hand it to MackIntosh, his work in this was, as usual, top notch). My favorite movies are "Dr. Zhivago" and "Gangs of NY" (and I recently appreciated "In Bruges") These films do not spare the viewers' sensibilities, with Cossaks slaughtering innocents and Bill Cutting's vengeful personality. Please DO see Anything else that these talented actors have done & best wishes to the script writer. Director, you've got talent but get out of this genre, it's old hat.