Protein (18) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Tony Burke, UK, 2024, 100mins
Cast: Craig Russell, Steve Meo, Kai Owen
Review by Matthew Kamara
This feature debut of writer-director Tony Burke, adapted from his 2014 short, is a bold, bloody ride bursting with twisted imagination and a Welsh underworld you won’t soon forget.
At the heart of the madness is Craig Russell as Sion—a haunted ex-soldier who lives for the iron but spirals into cannibalistic chaos. After chomping down on a local drug dealer (yep, literally eating him for his protein), Sion sets off a brutal gang war that turns the streets into a blood-splattered battleground. Forget post-workout shakes—this guy’s juicing on pure crime-horror insanity.
Burke balances it all with gleeful precision—combining pulpy grindhouse gore, gritty crime drama, and some seriously twisted comedy that makes you laugh, then question your morals straight after. The tone is pitch-black but never joyless. It’s Fight Club meets Fresh by way of Trainspotting, with steroids and severed limbs.
The ensemble cast brings absolute heat—Steve Meo, Kai Owen, Richard Mylan, and Charles Dale all bring muscle and menace, while Kezia Burrows and Julian Lewis Jones inject grounded grit into this bizarre world. It’s wild, it’s weird, and it works.
But what elevates Protein is the look. Cinematographer Andy Toovey captures the Welsh streets with raw attitude—shadows, sweat, and a touch of stylised grime. The production design by Josefine Lindmark and costumes by Cheselle Brierton nail that “drug den meets death metal gym” vibe. James McLean’s editing keeps the pace lean and mean, and the film’s final third delivers a chaotic crescendo of blood, barbells, and bonkers decisions.
