Walking the straight and narrow isn't so simple for an ex-con in this moody crime drama. Colin Farrell is surprisingly understated as Mitchel, the old-school cockney wide-boy who lands a seemingly cushy job protecting a London starlet (Keira Knightley, drawing on experience) from overzealous paparazzi. Inevitably, he develops feelings for her, but is gradually sucked back into the ugly London underworld by slippery pal Ben Chaplin and Ray Winstone, doing his patented hard-nut gangster routine. It's far from original and, crucially, the romance between Farrell and Knightley doesn't have enough pull. Clearly though, seasoned Hollywood scriptwriter William Monahan (making his directorial debut after penning the likes of The Departed) is keen to celebrate an almost forgotten tradition of noir, where moral choices provide the pulse of the story rather than bullets and car chases. It's intriguing for that reason, but sadly, there's just too much meandering.

A parolee falls for a reclusive movie star while trying to evade a ruthless gangster.