It’s become something of a tradition for countries to tell the world the life story of their most notorious criminals in film form. Australia gave us the unforgettable Chopper, France had the truly epic Mesrine and England’s most memorable recent crime biopic was the unique Bronson. Now Love, Honour and Obey director Ray Burdis has given one of Scotland’s most notorious wrong ‘uns the crime flick treatment with The Wee Man, the story of diminutive Glasgow hard-man Paul Ferris, played with grit by Martin Compston. Unfortunately it’s not only the film’s protagonist that’s wee; this is a small scale film with limited ambitions that prevent it being anything that hasn’t been seen many times before.
Ferris is a well-known figure among crime aficionados thanks to his three (yes three) best-selling memoirs and the film aims to adapt these charming stories of his rise through the Glasgow underworld with a minimum of embellishment. While the early scenes where the young Ferris stands up to bullies and realises he’s actually good quite at the whole violence thing are fairly gripping, it soon sets into a clichéd rut as he starts working for, then against notorious overlord Arthur Thompson (Patrick Bergin) and his loutish son Junior (Stephen McCole) and it becomes a standard gangster flick.
The film’s biggest problem is its lack of scope and flair. It was shot in London doubling for Glasgow and although Burdis’s decision to shoot everything tightly and without establishing shots can be seen as an attempt at some Mean Streets style claustrophobia it’s more likely just to disguise the location and makes the film feel very small scale. At one point Thompson tells Ferris “look out there, that’s Glasgow but we don’t get to see it. It’s also shot in a bland, perfunctory fashion that prevents it from having any kind of distinctive personality and instead makes feel like a tepid TV drama.
Despite these limitations the cast are giving it their utmost. Although Compston has played this kind of role before he proves totally capable of carrying the film on his shoulders and John Hannah is more interesting than he’s been in years as a superb weasel of a rival gangster. Denis Lawson is truly memorable as Ferris’ wearily decent father who acts as a moral compass in the earlier scenes but their interesting relationship is essentially abandoned later on.
Ultimately The Wee Man just never really becomes interesting and as a British gangster film is just another entry in an overloaded sub-genre.
Overall Verdict: The fact that it’s set north of the border is all that separates The Wee Man from the typical British gangster flicks that inundated cinemas about ten years ago. It has a fantastic cast giving earnest performances but offers nothing new or interesting.
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon