This film could have been compared to Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels if it had been good enough, as it is; I believe that those who made the comparison did so without thinking. Stickmen is very nearly a first rate film, and overall, it is a very entertaining piece with excellent physical casting, in fact, the look in general, is brilliant. So where did it go wrong? The story is a good yarn building (eventually) to a good climax and dénouement, but it lacks in the telling, and presents itself more as a collection of anecdotes than a thread of narrative or story line. As I said, the physical casting is brilliant, but not all the cast can act well and much direction needed to ground the performances of the leading men simply wasn't there, the performances were also uneven, with one or two actors so obviously more gifted than the rest, and one so much so that he was almost a solo performance, overall, the women were ahead of the men in acting skills. The production values and the camera work were generally fine, but occasionally over the top, this mistake again contributed to the films unevenness. I believe that the team responsible should learn from this nearly great film and forge ahead with a sequel or a film of similar style allowing time and energy to be spent on better scripting and upon lifting individual performance and developing better cohesion between the actors.
