Jamie Morgan (Jim Sturgess) is a 25-year-old photographer with a heart-shaped birthmark that covers half his face and has dramatically damaged his self-esteem. On a less superficial level, he’s learned demons are the source of a series of gruesome murders in East London. Couple these two facts and you have Jamie making a deal with the devil in Heartless, a story perfectly suited for a feature length television pilot rather than a feature length film.
This is one of those candy-coated throwaway pictures that has managed to impress itself to the point director Philip Ridley bloats the running time beyond acceptable levels. I didn’t really mind what I was watching for much of the film’s duration, but I soon grew tired of it by the start of the tedious third act. There came a point where the turns in the narrative become inevitable and the story just needed to move along, but refused to do so. As it turns out the final third of the film is where Ridley decides to pull the rug out from under you, but by this time you’ve already lost most of your interest in the narrative and could hardly care what “surprises” are in store.
However, the film is tolerable on most levels, at least when things are moving along rather than being strung out for the last act sucker punch, and if you’re able to overlook the low budget CG effects (which you really should be). I also thought Sturgess put in decent work, even if his character is a bit of a dolt. I can’t blame Sturgess for his character’s actions, but I can applaud him for making Jamie as believable as possible considering the course of the story’s arc.
Also part of the cast is Clemence Poesy (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as Jamie’s girlfriend Tia. Noel Clarke plays a character named A.J. that really should have been given more time on screen. Ruth Sheen, who lights up the screen in Mike Leigh’s Another Year, plays Jamie’s mom while Timothy Spall gets a cameo appearance as his father. As you can tell, there is some talent here, but too much of the story is driven by the rather cockamamie storyline and most of these characters aren’t given the time of day.
The most notable appearance, and easily the best scene in the film, comes shortly after Jamie has made his deal with the devil and he’s visited by the “Weapons Man,” played by Eddie Marsan. Marsan takes over the film for about five minutes and creates a character the film would’ve done best to follow throughout.
Essentially, the Devil is making deals with folks in an effort to maintain a certain level of “chaos” in London. Marsan plays a character who issues the Devil’s orders. He tells people when, where and how said “chaos” is to take place — such as torching a pair of innocents with Molotov cocktails for example. Just imagine a film where we follow such a character down his path of assignments and the news in the background informs us of the mischief he’s managed all while we learn a little more about his character. I don’t know about you, but there is a film in there somewhere. Perhaps a spin-off sequel?
No matter, where Marsan’s “Weapons Man” goes after he visits Jamie is currently left to our imagination as the rest of Heartless plays out in a rather stereotypical manner before the off the wall, what the hell was that about? ending.
Heartless was released On Demand back in September and will return On Demand on November 24 as well as play in New York theaters starting this weekend, November 19, and in Los Angeles on December 3. In my opinion On Demand is the best way to check this one out as a theatrical visit just isn’t necessary.
