Dexter Fletcher's directional debut unsurprisingly proves him to be quite the actors' director.
Dexter Fletcher's directorial debut is a bitter pill of a story that follows a father who returns home after being released from prison, to find his wife has abandoned his two sons and left them to fend for themselves.
The mature 15 year-old Dean, played perfectly by the now accomplished Will Poulter (Son of Rambo, School of Comedy) has his parents willing to believe he can take care of himself, and they're selfish enough to make him do it. By the time his dad, Bill (Charlie Creed-Miles), stumbles back into his life, Dean is working on a construction site with his truanting 11 year-old brother in his care.
Fletcher dedicates the film to his own father and the story he depicts rests on the bond between Bill and his sons. After Bill stupidly tells his parole officer (a bland, functional Olivia Williams) he's planning to leave the kids, he cuts a deal with his son. He'll appease the social worker, then unofficially relinquish his responsibilities and leave them to it.
Williams provides the dowdy voice of reason that Bill needs and soon he's cleaning the bog and cooking shepherd's pie for his kids. But Fletcher intertwines Bill's inescapable criminal past into his new life, making his learning curve that much more brutal and ugly. While Dean can't escape the 'scum' tag, Jimmy's carrying out drug runs and getting into debt with vicious dealers including (indirectly) a suited and booted Andy Serkis.
Though at times, Wild Bill is gripping and violent, there are issues that are too obviously missing from the characters' circumstance, issues that would make Bill's struggle more engagingly complex. We hear little from the school and the supposedly hard social workers seem happy with a bit of Flash and a duster. It's simply, sweetly believable, if a little formulaic, but the performances from Creed-Miles, Poulter and surprisingly, little Sammy Williams, are what really drive this film.
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