听 User Rating 
Jim Doyle's film opens engagingly enough. Following a gangland shooting, gangster Mark Clayton hides out in the home of his solicitor and reminisces on his life as a criminal. Through these flashbacks, we discover the chance and tragic circumstances that turned the once law-abiding Mark into a criminal.
The script by Neil Fitzmaurice (who also stars) follows the traditional rise-to-power structure of most gangster films. As yet another British gangster film, it will be compared to recent offerings such as "Snatch" or "Essex Boys" but it is Clayton's accidental entry into crime that makes "Going Off, Big Time" a little different and, if anything, echoes the 1932 classic "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang".
Impressive photography by Damian Bromley is used to good effect, with its framing helping to define Clayton as someone trapped by his circumstances when what he really seeks is a normal life with his classy girlfriend and an escape from his tiresome criminal colleagues.
Although packed with story and some fun characters, even at 90 minutes the film feels too long. While the performances are excellent, perhaps what keeps "Going Off, Big Time" from completely satisfying is its 'gangsterness'. The milieu of contemporary British gangster films is now over familiar and this results in Jim Doyle's film, despite its trying to be different, feeling as though it is something we have seen before.
