Ill Manors Review

Ill Manors Review-

Ill Manors is a British urban crime drama directed by the rapper and songwriter Ben Drew also known as Plan B. The movie is based around what the artist and director Plan B has seen in his life and what happens daily in the ghetto. The movie revolves around drugs, weapons, sex and violence.

Ill Manors is directed very intelligently because it incorporates many different things into the film. For example, Ben Drew often narrated the drama by rapping and writing songs to narrate what was happening at that time which is very smart because it engages the audience with the music but also tells a story. The introduction of the movie is calm and doesn't show much violence or drama and shows numerous shots of drug dealers bagging up cocaine and dealing while the narrator Ben Drew raps and narrates the movie. Ben Drew also promotes his music through his movie because people will enjoy and like his rapping in the movie so will probably listen to his music after his movie.

The movies main purpose I think is to entertain but also inform the audience about everything around them and what happens in society and in today's youth. One scene showed a classic example of gang culture where one of the boy named Jake standing with his friends who wants to buy drugs from the usual drug dealers. Jake helps his friend and goes to buy some marijuana from the drug dealers but they take his money and told him he will only get it if he beats his friend up. This forces him to do this to get what he wants he accepts and does so. After he does this the main gang leader is impressed and decides to bring young Jake into his gang. This scene shows a classic example of gang culture when the new comer has to preform something to impress the rest of the gang to join them. Ben Drew informs the audience about what usually happens behind closed doors. This makes Jake seem a lot more innocent than he is because it shows that he was forced to do this but this isn't normally shown and society aren't aware of this so Jake would normally gain more weight and punishment than he deserves. 

“She was once a princess, Now she’s a mess,” we’re told of Michelle, who’s a woman who owes money for a lost phone and is forced to prostitute around various shops including fast food shops to corner shops by a dealer called Ed. This shows the danger of these drug dealers because the woman is afraid so prostitutes to pay back what she owes. This also shows the audience their desperation for money so result to many unusual things. There is a twist in this because they soon realise she isn't responsible for the lost phone so has suffered for nothing. This makes Aaron the main character feel guilt but his partner Ed feels nothing at all and laughs. Aaron tells Ed to give her the money that she suffered for but Ed refuses this part is essential because it shows the dealers actions and this is linked by their punishments at the end of the film. Aaron shows kindness and care throughout the movie and shows a lot of emotion while the other drug dealers aren't as bothered by their actions.

Ed also sells a baby that Aaron found on the train this shows how desperate they are because they will go through extreme measures for money and once again Aaron shows emotion and is hesitant to this idea and isn't willing to sell the child. In the end Ed manages to convince him with his slick words the mother of the child finds Aaron and he does many things in his power to try and get the child back. The last third of the movie is full of drama that is all brought together into the pub when Ed dies trying to do a good deed of saving the child but suffers death due to his past actions. On the other hand Aaron is able to travel to find his parents who abandoned him from an early age and goes on to live a normal life due to his goodness in character. The whole film shows that there is many things that happen behind the scenes that society aren't aware of. For example, although Aaron was a drug dealer at first he shows a goodness in heart which people aren't usually aware of because of the gritty crimes that characters like this commit.

Ben Drew then makes an intelligent appearance at the end of the film when Aaron is in a cab going to meet his birth parents and Ben Drew is the cab driver and his face is shown in the rear view mirror which is a very good way to round off the movie.

Overall, the movie shows a sense of change in Urban dramas due to narrating and plot twists that occur in the movie. The movie is very intriguing and grabs the audience from the very beginning and informs the British audience on many issues that happen on a daily basis in the ghettos of Britain.