If there’s one film genre that the Brits are consistently good at producing, it’s crime, especially with a revenge angle. This heritage seems to go back to the time of the original Get Carter (1971), and there have been many worthy additions since. The latest that I’ve seen is called Bull, a seemingly conventional flick about a criminal enforcer who’s betrayed by his cohorts after a dispute over the custody of his son, who also happens to be the boss’ grandson. A revenge thriller about a gangster who’s driven by familial connection? I like it, but that’s been done before, right? Well yes, but it’s never, ever, been done exactly like this.

In Bull’s first scene, we observe our titular protagonist purchase a revolver from a gun dealer who seems surprised to see Bull still alive. Uninterested in small talk, Bull leaves the dealer’s car and within seconds, begins his quest of vengeance. Immediately, we viewers are thrust into the violence, without any explanation or motivation given. And this violence isn’t toothless either; it’s brutal and shocking, featuring arterial bleeds and severed limbs. In fact, the person with whom I watched this even stated after Bull’s second killing, “Wow… okay then.”

That reaction likely stems from the fact that they expected action movie violence in a film like this, but instead we were presented the sort of bloodshed normally reserved for slasher pics. It’s a bold gambit by writer and director Paul Andrew Williams, given that this approach is as likely to turn the viewers against the protagonist as it is to endear him to them. In the end though, it’s a gambit that mostly pays off thanks to Williams’ confident filmmaking and star Neil Maskell’s simmering performance.

Speaking of Maskell, he carries this film with an uninhibited portrayal of a broken man that’s all the more off-putting given his everyman appearance. Maskell isn’t conventionally good-looking, nor is he particularly physically fit. He looks like any of your childhood buddies’ fathers, and often during the flashback sequences, he behaves like them too. I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to transform from lovable father to terrifying killer, and when characters in this movie recoil from him in fear, I often did too. I keep thinking of a scene where he recites the Three Little Pigs allegory in the most creepy and intimidating way I’ve ever seen. That part really stuck with me.

That being said, I was almost equally impressed by veteran character actor David Hayman’s portrayal of Norm, the primary antagonist and Bull’s father-in-law. David Hayman has basically mastered the art of playing villains, and this might be the culmination of that mastery. Norm isn’t a villain who’s evil without reason or cause either. He’s shown to be a family man, and when his family members and criminal associates start dying, he’s understandably incensed. He’s consistent in the flashback sequences too, where he chooses family over everything else, even when he knows it’s not in his best interest to do so. If Norm could remove emotion from his decision-making, specifically in regard to his heroin-addicted daughter, Gemma (Lois Brabin-Platt), maybe this all could have been avoided. But he can’t, and so it’s not. It’s a relatable flaw, and Norm would almost be sympathetic if he wasn’t such a detestable thug played by an actor who’s mastered thuggery.

As I’ve touched on, Bull features a number of flashback scenes that show the sequence of events that led to Bull’s betrayal. These scenes are interspersed with scenes that take place in the present, slowly providing the audience the context that is usually shown earlier in revenge films. Having both storylines run concurrently is a clever storytelling technique, with both building up the tension in tandem as they approach their respective climaxes. And what climaxes they are, with the eventual reveal of what happened ten years ago combining with Bull’s vengeful finale to create a sucker-punch of a third act.

Speaking of the third act, I’ve read a few reviews that reveal too much about it and the daring decisions made by Paul Andrew Williams. Since I don’t want to hop on the spoiler train but do want to address the ending, I’ll say this: I enjoyed it. No, it’s not normal in the slightest, and I don’t even think Williams or the actors nailed it either. However, there’s something about its audaciousness that I found appealing and refreshing, and like a lot of this film, it sat with me long after the credits rolled.

My main criticism of Bull has to do with character motivations, specifically how many of them felt underdeveloped. I already mentioned Norm’s motivations in regard to family, and those are established enough that they work. But then there’s a scene with Norm in which he visits a certain character’s mother, and the way it played out was baffling to me. Also, a number of Bull’s vengeful slayings, specifically early on, felt unnecessary and therefore perplexing. Looking back on them now, they seem especially cruel in a movie that’s already very punishing to watch. Finally, and I can’t go into specifics here without spoiling too much, I noticed that a few things go too unexplained. This may have been deliberate, but I couldn’t tell for sure, so it ended up bothering me and my obsessive brain. Then again, Bull is also only 88 minutes long, so many of its expository shortcomings are made up for by its narrative propulsion.

Revenge stories, whether in Britain or elsewhere, have been told on screen hundreds of times, to the point of redundancy (see Liam Neeson). With this in mind, I really appreciate Bull and its attempt at nonconformity. Sure, a number of questionable creative decisions and omissions still nag at me, but I’m willing to forgive those things due to the sheer amount of boldness on display here. With Bull, Neil Maskell and David Hayman remind us what they’re capable of when given a gritty script, and Paul Andrew Williams establishes himself as a filmmaker on the rise. If you enjoy this genre and can cope with some extreme violence, this film may surprise you. It certainly did me.

If I had to score it, I’d give Bull a 7/10.