Spivs scammers are wizened leader Jack (Ken Stott- Rebus), young protege Steve (Nick Moran- Lock, Stock...), ambitious vixen Jenny (Kate Ashfield- Shaun of the Dead), and pothead fuck-up Goat (Dominic Monaghan- Lord of the Rings trilogy). The relationships are exactly as you would expect: Jack is the gruff elder statesman set in his ways of the rules of the con, Steve is the wanna' please ingenue, Kate is the sultry cock tease who would rather be doing bigger, riskier cons, and Goat is the inept, bound to get hit in the balls, comic relief.

The group takes a con initiated by Steve and they proceed to clean out the office of a corrupt construction company owner and make off with a rig full of stolen goods. However, rather than containing equipment, cigarettes, contraband, etc, the truck is full of illegal immigrants imported by the Russian mafia for sale on the sex slave trade. This puts the group in a bad spot with the underworld. Steve sets out to redeem himself with Jack, who has his own burden in two children who were hidden away on the truck and were the only Shanghai'd pair that didn't run off into the night.

Making it hard to review without spoiling, the thing that is most curious about Spivs is a twist I cannot talk about. At least, I should not and will not. Suffice to say, right around the one hour mark or so, a good 2/3rds into the film, it reveals itself to be an entirely different animal. Its still a crime film because its about criminals, but it is not a con film. Its really a bit more of a character study with a heavy lean towards drama.

Its a shame that the plot turn wasn't executed very well and comes off as pretty sappy and melodramatic. Its an interesting idea, but much like the comedy and con/crime elements earlier on in the film, the dramatic turn is both underdeveloped and stacked with cliches.

Its really a pretty mediocre film, not bad, not that good, it aims straight down the middle. Much of my lukewarmness to the film is the fact that there are simply too may crime films that crackle with more intensity and more colorful characters. The turn the film takes is a bold one, but really the comedy-crime aspects weren't working that well anyway and felt void of the cunning one expects from the genre. The last half plays like a weepy melodrama, complete with gooey sentiments (Can these urchins melt the hard heart of this gruff, lifelong criminal? You bet yer' ass they can.) Even thrillwise, after all the chasing, tears, screams, and hysterics, the final resolution is confoundingly pat and simple. Yep, it totally fizzles at the end and seals its fate as a forgettable piece of middle of the road crime cinema.

The DVD: Image.

Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. Director Colin Teague (Shooters, The Last Drop) shows off workmanlike visuals but nothing particularly inventive. Print is very clean and well-defined. General areas are all quite good, from color, to contrast, sharpness, and a decent grain level. Technically there is some edge enhancement present.

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 English language tracks. Pretty garden variety audio tracks with some good response and balanced mixing. There are no subs on this disc. My American ears had some trouble making out certain moments of the Brit/cockney speak, so subs would have been nice.

Extras: Trailer. -- Production Stills.

Conclusion: Mediocre film. Basic DVD. Makes my job easy. I doubt many viewers will go nuts over the film and want to revisit it, and it does just enough to entertain so some people may want to give it a chance. This one is best left as a rental for curious crime film fans.