Director Paddy Slattery
Starring Tristan Heanue, Graham Earley, John Connors
Rated MA
Score 5/6

Dave Connolly is a respected member of the Garda Síochána but his loyalty to the law gets tested by his ex-convict brother Joe who is in desperate need of his help.

Okay the fun thing about film festivals sometimes you might come across the same actor in different movies. So, for those of you who might be looking for suggestions for a possible movie binge session I am going to suggest that you watch Broken Law and The Bright Side simply because they both star Gemma-Leah Devereux. Apparently Broken Law is writer/director Paddy Slattery’s first feature length film and its definitely worth a watch though as crime dramas go I thought that it started off a little slow for my tastes, though the opening scene did have shades of the iconic 1980 movie The Blues Brothers and the bank robbery scene isn’t as slick as most people would want, I ended up being reminded of Paul Fenech’s 2015 Dumb Criminals. I also enjoyed Broken Law’s soundtrack. The pacing of the third act seemed to take things from 0 to 60 quicker than I thought they would, though Slattery didn’t let things get to chaotic action wise like you might expect from an American film. Both Tristan Heanue and Graham Earley as Dave and Joe, the brotherly bonding session was hilarious, but I loved John Connors’ performance as Wallace. Connors had a menacing onscreen presence, and he was the driving force of the third, though up until the last ten minutes I am certain that the third act could have been resolved through the power of conversation. But greedy criminals aren’t exactly known for being rational and where would the fun in that for the audience?