[2][3] The film stars Paul Bettany in the title role and features Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis and Saffron Burrows.

Hearing in conversation that another gangster, Freddie Mays, is to be released from prison after 30 years, he falls silent and leaves the table to recover his composure.

The Gangster is eager to please; his violence impresses Mays and he proves his loyalty with creative methods of murder.

However, the Gangster from the start is obsessed with and jealous of Mays' success and glamorous lifestyle, demonstrated in his luxury clothing and plush flat.

Instead of warning him, the Gangster decides to let the attack take place, and kills the only other member of his gang who is aware of the plan.

The Gangster watches as Taylor and his gang shoot and stab Mays, and slit the throat of his fiancée, Karen.

In a sequence spanning the years between 1968 and 1999, he is shown organizing a bank heist, opening a casino, fixing horse races, and building his gang to over 300.

The narrative returns to the aged Gangster at the boxing event, where he discovers that Karen also survived and is due to marry Mays, who has left prison a changed man.

The film closes with the Gangster, having apparently lost his mind, committing suicide by stepping off the top of a building.

The writers of the original stage play that the film is based on, Louis Mellis and David Scinto, both adapted their playscript into a screenplay.

Freddie leaves and Gangster gets poisoned by the smoke of the car, and then he drives through the windows and drops off the high rise.

[11] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calls it "a powerful and serious film [...] a miasma of hysteria and anxiety - a real addition to the British crime canon.