A Welsh crime drama that leans heavily on dark comedy and a tasty bit of horror, Protein successfully manages to hold itself together to end up an entertaining thriller.
Sion (Craig Russell) is a PTSD-ridden former soldier who is scraping by around Wales. When he comes upon a small gym and a kind-hearted manager in Katrina (Kezia Burrows), little does she know her new “employee” is, in fact, a serial killer. Soon, that murder lust and hunger for meat turns its attention to a local wannabe drug dealer and inadvertently sparks a brutal turf war between rival gangs.
Who knew such violent gang activity could kick off in Wales? Tony Burkes Protein juggles an awful lot of balls in a film that switches tone at breakneck speed, at times to its own detriment. Yet, it manages to work just about enough that you can ease in and enjoy the chaotic ride you’re on. Does the film really need to be about a flesh-eating serial killer in a quiet, if not seedy, part of Wales AND a crime-dark comedy thriller about a group of steroid-filled idiot thugs who have tried their hand at being major drug dealers and immediately regretted it? Nah, but as mentioned, it just about works.
Mixing Dead Man’s Shoes with a UK version of a Coen Brothers film shouldn’t work. It really shouldn’t; there is too much going on throughout the already lean runtime. However, Protein pulls it off thanks to some strong character writing from Tony Burke and Mike Oughton. They have a whole raft of characters to write for, yet we are given enough time actually to care about each and every one of them. It is an achievement to do that as well as they do here. Even though Protein would probably be better off as two different films orbiting the same universe, you do find yourself feeling towards some of the cast.
With Sion, although he is the serial killer of the film, he comes across almost as a Dexter type of person who only kills those who have caused harm to others. So when he sees Katrina get pushed around by one of the thugs at the gym, it triggers his hunger to kick in. Craig Russell delivers a strong performance as Sion, but due to the speedrun nature of Protein; you wish you had more time with him to understand more of what caused this, etc. His character, a complex mix of trauma and a desire for justice, leaves you wanting more in a positive way.
Two of the standouts are Ross O’Hennessy as the wholly out-of-his-depth Nik, a guy who just wants to be more than a meathead bouncer and have some control over his life. There is a sensitivity that we see in his character, which helps skew the stereotypes he would normally have, with O’Hennessy even able to bring some solid humour to the role as Nik loses all control around him.
When it comes to comedy, however, the star of that portion of Protein has to be Steve Meo as the underappreciated lowest possible peg of the gang, Kevin. If there is one rule of thumb that a bunch of drug users should go by, it is to not leave a protein tub full of the goods with the most manically nervous one of the bunch. What proceeds to occur is Meo doing his best paranoid Conor McGregor impression and stealing scene after scene.
The dark blood-smeared thread of macabre helps the film stand out from the usual grim and grey British crime flicks that are a dime a dozen. The only thing that lets Protein down is that you wish you had more of the characters in this universe. In another world where budgets were no bounds, you could split this into two films that just have one intersecting series of moments. The tone shifts are dramatic, but Burke, in his feature debut, manages to pull it off, and if that isn’t the mark of a good director, then what is?
This won’t disappoint, so give it a watch. Although you may not want to incorporate meat smoothies into your diet anytime soon.
★★★ 1/2
Protein is in select cinemas on 13 June from Bulldog Film Distribution.
It will be released on digital platforms from 14 July.
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