On January 13th, as you will no doubt still be digesting all the food and alcohol you’ve consumed during the holiday season, you can kick back and chill in front of what looks like it be this year’s Crash, the British melodrama 100 Streets.
Directed by Jim O’Hanlon, the film stars Idris Elba as a former rugby star whose life spirals out of control. He drinks too much, loses his wife (played by Gemma Arterton) and ultimately becomes entangled in a series of unfortunate events that (judging by the trailer) lead to violence and chaos.
This doesn’t look like the movie of the year by any means. It actually looks like a rehash of Falling Down (a film much too relevant today), with a stereotypical anti-hero and story, and seems like the kind of high end melodramas we got in the ‘90s that would ultimately end up in the $1 dollar bin at (what was) your local Blockbuster. Still, there is hope, and it definitely could end being a more than decent time at the movies. Why do we say this? Because Idris Elba is the lead.
For those of you who don’t know Idris Elba, he’s the man who prevented the apocalypse. In all seriousness, Elba’s rise to fame came right after HBO’s The Wire (the best show ever made) where he played the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale’s right hand man, the business-minded Stringer Bell. Even though he wasn’t in any seasons following the third (out of five), he made a big impression on the few people watching at the time, became a fan favorite, and no one even realized he was British.
Following The Wire, Elba made it back to his home country, where he gave a string of great performances and starred in one of the best shows no one is watching (kind of a habit for him): BBC’s Luther. It’s bleak, edgy, awesome and it’s a subject for another time. In 2015, he delivered the performance of a lifetime in the magnificent Beasts of No Nation, and the only reason he was passed up for an Oscar nomination is because Netflix produced it.
Even though he didn’t get the recognition he deserves, Elba is sure to become a household name in the coming years as he’s been cast as the lead in the much anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and there has been much talk about whether or not he’d make a good James Bond. However, that might be unlikely in Trump’s America…
As you’ve probably understood by now, anything starring Elba is a good bet, and that’s why 100 Streets could still surprise us, even if it opened to mixed reviews in the UK on November 11th. Let's let’s keep open minds for the flick come January, even if it doesn’t live up to the trailer, you’ll still get lots of Idris!
Watch the trailer here.
