Of all the films that could have taken their inspiration from the riots that occurred across Britain in 2011, it is perhaps a surprise that May I Kill U? is the first major production to do so.
Written and directed by Stuart Urban it tells the story of Baz (Kevin Bishop), a bicycle cop in London who, after a bump on the head, turns into a right wing murderous vigilante or “death facilitator” as he describes it. Using social media to promote his actions Baz patrols the streets seeking out potential victims who have a criminal record and, after somewhat politely asking them “May I Kill U?”, he dispatches them in a variety of different ways from death by plasma television to knocking them into The Thames. Only when his conscience slowly gets the better of him do events come to a head.
The main problem with May I Kill U? is that it is, simply put, a bad film. It is supposed to be a black comedy, or “dead black” as the director has referred to it, but this means that it has to be funny on at least a few occasions and it just isn’t. The intended moments of humour are ill-judged and misguided and fail every time. There will be times when the audience will laugh but this will be at the film rather than with it at some of the preposterous events and lines.
As far as the script goes the actors do as well as can be expected with what they have been given. Kevin Bishop is almost believable as the good intentioned cop gone a little crazy after his accident, although he comes across as somewhat self righteous. Hayley-Marie Axe is fine as Baz’s partner Val but is underused and Rosemary Leach is convincing as the old lady who restores a little of Baz’s faith in humanity. But the film is stolen by Frances Barber as his alcoholic, drug dependant, over-bearing mother who malevolently criticises everything Baz does at every opportunity.
There is a strong reliance on social media throughout, presumably to give the film a modern look but it just seems forced and awkward. The fact that these tools are used to promote the activities of our vigilante just portray the mediums as channels for wrong doing and this cannot be a good thing.
And then we come to the violent and aggressive nature of some of the scenes and dialogue. There are moments of extremely questionable taste in May I Kill U? that arrive occasionally with so little warning that you may be left wondering to yourself if you actually heard or saw what you thought you did. What I suspect are intended as moments of gravity are poorly conceived and simply don’t work.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There is a social message here but it isn’t clear to see what the director is trying to say. Is vigilantism a good thing? Is social media to blame for many of societies ills? Should Kevin Bishop stick to comedy? I’m afraid I cannot answer any of those questions. What I can say though is that I cannot see this film finding an audience. I would be surprised to find anyone who enjoyed May I kill U? as it was intended and as a result I would avoid this one if you can.
