Essex Boys is a 1999 "gangster" film that takes the viewer into the gritty, dangerous domain of Essex's drug-dealing underworld. The story is narrated in part by a lad named Billy, a lowly (but fairly quick-witted) driver for the self-important kingpins, and though we don't see everything from Billy's vantage point, it is an effective and engaging means of presenting the story. Though the characters and the story are pure fiction, the inspiration for the film came from the murder of three suspected drug dealers whose bodies were found in a Range Rover in Essex in 1995. The story created around this real-life event is highly imaginative, plausible, gripping, and suspenseful.

Sean Bean (Sharpe, Extremely Dangerous, Bravo Two Zero, The Fifteen Streets, Golden Eye), donning a cockney-flavoured Essex accent, is simply superb as the jealous, arrogant, mean-spirited, foul-mouthed Jason Locke, a drug-dealing thug who's just been released from prison (and who thinks he's God's gift to women). He's one of those chaps, the girth of whose vocabulary is such that he'd easily be rendered speechless were he required to utter so much as one sentence without lacing it liberally with the "F" word. There is not much at all to like about Locke. He treats women like dirt and has little more respect for his colleagues.

Those used to seeing Bean as an action hero will no doubt enjoy (if that is the right word!) seeing him in such a nasty role. He is known for really internalizing his roles and becoming the character he's portraying; indeed, it's almost disturbing to see him here, for he simply exudes foulness.

The film co-stars Alex Kingston (Moll Flanders) as Locke's feisty, shrewd, ambitious wife, Lisa. Kingston is a very capable actress who is well-paired with Bean in this film. Another familiar face is Tom Wilkinson (The Full Monty), who is wonderful as drug middle-man John Dyke.

This is a gritty, violent film that doesn't hold back any punches in its depiction of the drug underworld. It's a good story with a very satisfying ending. It's a first-rate production and is consumately acted by all involved. Recommended to fans of the "gangster" film genre and to fans of Sean Bean.