If you were to assume that a film in which Ray Winstone is cast as a villain and Ian McShane as a dodgy geezer is full of cliches and heeds few surprises, you'd only be partly right.

Yes, the plot is formulaic; Retired robber Gal (Winstone) lives the ex-pat, ex-con life in a villa on the Costa del Crime with his ex-porn star wife Deedee (Amanda Redman) until he receives a visit from the menacing Don Logan, played by Ben Kingsley, who does his utmost to 'persuade' Gal out of retirement to participate in a bank vault robbery.

I remember this story line from Seventies film, Sweeney II, in which a gang of villains who share a luxury Spanish villa with their beautiful wives, plot one last job.

What sets this gangster flick apart is Kingsley's brilliantly chilling performance as the menacing Logan. He is startling in his portrayal of a man seemingly incapable of being sociable or making small talk. Bordering on the psychotic, his vicious temper is a tightly-coiled spring always on the verge of being released.

Winstone is good as the criminal-gone-soft (in the belly as well as the heart) who wants nothing more to do with the risky, seedy life that afforded him an early retirement, much less the evil, amoral wretches who are addicted to "the buzz" of their dubious profession.

Never-the-less, having seen his performance as the violent wife-beater in Nil By Mouth, it took some convincing to believe he could fear anyone, however, Kingsley managed it.

The pace and tension of this macabre drama are pitched at just the right level and, unlike Sweeney II in which the baddies all get their just desserts (even the ones who are attempting to go straight) the ending is satisfyingly upbeat.