Davis Freeberg's DVD AllStars

Now normally I'm not at all squimish when it comes to a good fighting movie.  In fact I tend to like movies that don't mind a little bit of danger once in a while, but Essex Boys took violence to a new level.  Based upon a true story about a team of gangsters in Britain, the movie focuses on two main characters in a strange mentor/apprentice relationship.  Billy is the apprentice who gets sucked into a life of crime after driving the gangsters on a job.  The entire movie if filmed from his point of view and he provides a narrative explaining some of the scenes.  His mentor is a complete and total wreck who is liable to fly off the handle at any moment.  Whether it was his dousing someone in the face with acid or a brutal rape and murder scene, it was his violence that made the film a bit too much for even my tastes.  Throughout the whole movie it seemed like the film had violence just for violence sake instead of it adding something to the overall plot and character development.  While the film was well made and interesting, the ultra-violent scenes were enough to make me not want to see it again.