The Criminal is undeniable proof of the adverse affect that Pulp Fiction has had on cinema. The title of the movie is actually ironic, as the movie itself is no better than a common criminal. After paying money to see it, you'll see why. Basically, The Criminal is a huge waste of 90 minutes. I can think of multiple better things to do in 90 minutes than watch this movie, one of them involving your own toenails and a pair of rusty pliers. After seeing the film, I doubt that you will disagree. It is with that in mind that I say; don't bother with this movie. The premise of The Criminal is actually quite intriguing, and you'll be forgiven for thinking that the film is worth watching for that reason. After the first ten minutes, you'll think that you've made the right choice in deciding to see the movie. You're wrong, but you won't know it yet. The movie opens with a man chatting to a woman in a bar. After hearing his speech about dance music being rubbish, you'll be utterly convinced that you're in the right film, but you're not. The man and woman, after some banter, go back to his apartment. Events transpire, and she ends up dead. Shock, horror! Indeed, as it's down, down, deeper and down from then on. And just to clarify; I don't mean 'down' as in 'down into Britain's criminal underworld', unfortunately.<br /><br />Steven Mackintosh takes the lead in this film. You'll almost certainly recognise this man from one of Britain's good crime films; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The character that Steve plays here is, in fact, only a certain plant away from being the same character that he played in Lock, Stock; namely, a wimp who happens to be in a world of criminals. The rest of the cast isn't noteworthy, with the exception of the police inspector. He isn't noteworthy for anything but swearing a lot, however. He swears and he swears and then he swears some more. That's all he does, and it gets beyond a joke after the third or fourth swear word. It's a blatantly obvious attempt to cash in on the childish 'coolness' of profanity.<br /><br />Pulp Fiction's influence can be seen all too often through this film; but what The Criminal doesn't realize is that just because it worked for Pulp Fiction, doesn't mean it will work here. At times, the film works in flashback sequences that just pop up from nowhere, it sometimes uses cool dialogue to convey it's points, and sometimes puts stuff in just for the sake of having it there; and all in all, it's extremely annoying. That's all this film is really; annoying. Annoying, boring and unoriginal sums it up perfectly, and it is, with no fear of a lie, one of the worst movies of recent years. Maybe even of all time