Movie Review: Seize Them!

Image Source: IMDb.com

Movie: Seize Them!
Production Companies: DJ Films, Stigma Films
Director: Curtis Vowell
Producers: Damian Jones, Matthew James Wilkinson
Scriptwriter: Andy Riley

Main Cast: Aimee Lou Wood, Nicola Coughlan, Lolly Adefope, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes
Release Date: April 5th 2024 (UK)
Running Time: 91 minutes
Certificate: 15

Introduction

If there’s ever a film which proves how good British humour is, Seize Them! is a perfect example of this. Firstly, an all star comedic cast, which also has James Acaster in because he’s getting everywhere in Hollywood these days, and some daft ass humour really do make this an enjoyable and very silly watch. Now are a lot of jokes very similar and incredibly crass like Wicked Little Letters? Yep however when the cast is firing on all cylinders, it sort of makes you forget that fact. Anyway, enough has been said here, let’s get into my review of the film now.

Synopsis

Seize Them! follows a tyrannical English queen in the Dark Ages, Queen Dagan (Wood), as she is toppled by a very charismatic figure, Humble Joan (Coughlan). Having been dethroned, Dagan must go amongst her once former peasant subjects to hide and attempt to win back their support for her rule. As she soon discovers, this is going to be a harder task than she thought as most of the peasants, like Shulmay (Adefope), Felix the Ironmonger (Acaster) and Bobik (Frost), are not too fond of her thanks to her rather iron fisted approach to ruling. Can Dagan win the support of her people before she loses the chance to reclaim her throne from Humble Joan?

Analysis

Seize Them’s Humour

As mentioned in the introduction, Seize Them’s humour is incredibly crass but arguably that’s what makes it so funny. Case in point, those familiar with Aimee Lou Wood from Sex Education know how well she thrives as the clueless, rich figure who doesn’t know or understand the world beyond her own life. This lends itself perfectly to some of the peasants joking about her, including Felix as Acaster does what he does best and maximises his screentime with some very funny barbs.

Also, it is easy to see why Seize Them doesn’t appeal to everyone as beyond the weirdly funny crass humour there’s not too much to the script beyond some meta barbs about monarchy and absolute power. However, if you need one reason to see this film just look at Aimee Lou Wood desperately trying to understand how a peasant can live like they can after years of tyrannically not giving a damn from her throne. So while the humour is limited, it really will have you belly laughing at it in the best possible way.

Seize Them’s Cast

Following on from that, the cast is, again as mentioned in the introduction, stacked up with some very talented names in British comedy. Take James Acaster, who alongside Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, is really starting to break through into the mainstream film industry which is wonderful to see as his style of dark humour really fits in with his character of a beaten down iron monger. Also, special mentions to Nick Frost and Lolly Adefope, both of whom are also hilarious in limited roles.

If you’re a fan of Adefope’s work in Ghosts, then her role in Seize Them! is for you as she goes from a slightly bumbling ghost into Dagan’s voice of reason dn explaining why she can’t just order her former peasant subjects around. And I don’t think I need to explain why Nick Frost is hilarious in his turn as a pig farmer because that man can turn anything into solid gold no matter what his role is. Overall, a fantastic cast who you can tell had a blast whilst filming.

Summary

To summarise, Seize Them! this is a daft and very crass film which utilises its very funny all star British comedic cast to great effect. Whilst the humour may run dry at certain points, the duelling performances of Aimee Lou Wood and Nicola Coughlan more than carry the film’s screenplay. Also, if more directors can keep casting James Acaster that’d be an absolute delight especially if he’s alongside UK Film royalty like Nick Frost. Overall, a very silly and daft watch if you’re in need of cheering up.

Overall Rating: 5.5./10 – Above Average
Target Audience: 15+
Content Warning: Moderate Profanity, Mild Violence and Gore
Recommendation: Yes