Adulthood

SYNOPSIS

Screenwriter Noel Clarke's sequel to his hit film Kidulthood is set six years after that first slice of west London teen turbulence. Sam (played as before by Clarke himself, who here takes over directing duties) has served his sentence for the killing of local rival Trife. Fresh out of prison, he has renounced violence, but violence has not renounced him. During his first 24 hours of freedom, Sam finds that plenty of Trife's friends are still eager to exact revenge. Clarke's employment of a flashier film style means that his directorial debut, though consistently watchable, is occasionally a little overdone. It also spans a rather narrower emotional spectrum than Kidulthood and humour is in short supply. But this is still competent British film-making, aimed predominantly at late teens, and though it helps to have seen the earlier film to understand what brought the characters to this place in time, it's not essential.