Tony is an eccentric loner whose only true pleasure in life is watching cheesy 80's action movies. When life throws Tony into new, awkward situations, Tony begins questioning his own worth as a human being and decides to stop fantasizing and start acting.
Directed and written by Gerard Johnson, this version of Tony is a full-length feature remake of his 2005 short film of the same name. Even then, this version barely surpasses the one hour mark. The title character is played by veteran British TV actor Peter Ferdinando who completely disappears when he dons the acting guise of Tony. Tony's look is vital to the the film's mood. Tony is frail, his hair is slicked to the side, he wears glasses, and sports a pencil-thin mustache. He's the type of person you can see on the street and expect he was probably bullied when he was young, or is a tightly wound city worker ready to snap, and eventually, Tony does snap.
The film is a gritty, no-nonsense character piece. It is fairly predictable, but not without moments of shock and mystery. Some people might compare it to American Psycho, but it's far too street savvy. I would compare it closer to Stuart Gordon's and David Mamet's regular Joe turned psycho movie, Edmond (2005), starring William H. Macy. Like these other two movies, Tony is unapologetic with it's violence just not as liberal with its blood flow.
It's interesting to watch Peter Ferdinando work. His posture, his mannerisms, all of them finely tuned to express this characters shy tension. Ferdinando recently made his American film debut in Snow White and the Huntsman as the Black Knight. Hopefully, Tony will help launch him on to more projects.
Overall, the movie runs shortly over one hour, but the tempo is steadily paced to where the audience doesn't miss a beat of Tony's breakdown, which is inevitable. The only question is how far will Tony go once he's felt that killing sensation? He is a time bomb and bombs don't care who they affect.
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