Alleycats | Film review - Kickstarter-funded bike courier thriller

Alleycats starring Eleanor Tomlinson Josh Whitehouse Poster

Kickstarter-funded bike courier thriller.

Playing a spunky cycle courier trying to unravel a murder/blackmail conspiracy, Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson exchanges windswept cliff tops for urban grit with Alleycats, a Kickstarter-funded mystery thriller set amid East London’s alleycat bike racing scene.

First-time director Ian Bonhôte builds up a good head of speed in the action scenes, capturing the anarchic adrenalin rush of masked bike racers hurtling through the city’s streets. And he does a good job of conveying the outlaw spirit of the alleycat underground. But when Tomlinson’s heroine Danni and her courier brother Chris (played by Tomlinson's Poldark co-star Josh Whitehouse) cross the paths of John Hannah’s sleazy MP and his ruthless fixer (Virgile Bramly), the plotting is too slack to keep the film’s wheels spinning.

Certificate 15. Runtime 97 mins. Director Ian Bonhôte

Alleycats debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Thursday 3 August. Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Universal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VdC4NXOiwQ

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.