Gassed Up: Film Review
Gassed Up won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the London Film Festival last year and I can totally understand why.
The crime film follows Ash (Stephen Odubola), who is part of a moped robbery gang with his childhood friend Roach (Craige Middleburg) and his mates Dubz (Taz Skylar), Mole (Tobias Jowett), and Kabz (Mohammed Mansaray). The boys ride around London stealing phones, gadgets and whatever else they can grab on the go. They work for an Albanian crime family led by Dubz’s cousin Shaz (Jelena Gavrilovic), who wants them to commit worse crimes and rob a jewellery shop. Surprise surprise, it doesn’t go well…
Gassed Up, a slang term for someone with delusions of grandeur, hits all the usual gang/crime tropes but it mostly works because of Odubola’s Ash. He’s reluctantly part of the gang because he really needs the money to help his family and his morals are compromised when the group’s antics go beyond petty theft. He wants out – but the crime family won’t let him go that easily.
Yes, we’ve heard that story before but you still become invested in Ash because he’s a good, smart person with his heart in the right place and he deserves a better life. Also, Odubola has an endearing screen presence and a great rapport with his co-stars. Skylar (who co-wrote the script) particularly stood out as the charming and manipulative leader of the pack.
I laughed out loud a bunch, particularly at the boys’ banter and Ash’s hilarious Clothes Off sequence, and was gripped as the situation got progressively worse and the thrills ramped up. I also couldn’t resist the banging soundtrack!
Gassed Up may not be the most original story in the world but it’s fun and thrilling and I enjoyed it a lot.
In cinemas from Friday 9th February and Prime Video from Friday 29th March