A retired East End gangster, Ritchie Archer, returns to London from Spain to investigate the violent sadistic murder of his brother, Charlie, at the hands of a local street gang called E2. In the process, Ritchie discovers that the police are deliberately delaying the case, out of incompetence, fear or both. Ritchie and his old mates gather to pay their last respects to Charlie, and then set about getting revenge. They start by abducting known associates of the gang's leader, Aaron, during which Ritchie suffers a heart attack and is taken to hospital. They use the investigating detective-inspector's daughter, Lauren, who had a short relationship with Aaron and witnessed Charlie's murder, to trick E2 into trying to kill Ritchie in his hospital bed. The street gang is subsequently ambushed, culminating in a shoot-out; a number of gang members are either incapacitated or killed, and Roy is wounded. Aaron threatens to kill Lauren if the older gang does not surrender. They do so but Ritchie and Aaron fight regardless until armed police arrive on the scene and kill Aaron.
The epilogue shows the old gangsters at the private airport, saying their goodbyes to Ritchie's helicopter when he suddenly appears at their side, mentioning something they did "in 1969, with Charlie", Roy adds "in Turin".
Stephen Kelly of Total Film gave the film a score of two stars out of five and stated that it "plays its 'everything was much better in the old days' fantasy more as a crass cartoon than as stark social realism".[1]
Sequel
Producer Jonathan Sothcott brings in his involvement with a sequel to the film called We Still Steal the Old Way, with Sacha Bennett returning to direct and co-write the script alongside Simon Cluett.[2] Ian Ogilvy and the rest of the lead cast members reprised their roles, joined by Julian Glover, Patrick Bergin and Billy Murray playing the main antagonist. It was released in April 2017. A third film, We Still Die the Old Way, was released in 2019.[3]
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