Life after So Solid Crew has been kind to Ashley Walters, who fronted Bullet Boy in 2005 and next landed the starring role in Richard Laxton's Life & Lyrics. Unfortunately, this growing pains tale of a South London DJ was "as predictable as the hip-hop beats thumping in the background." When it hit UK cinemas in late 2006, it failed to break the Top Ten. Eminem need not lose any sleep...

Disc Jockey

Aside from the trailer, a batch of eight deleted scenes is all that accompanies Life & Lyrics on DVD. Sadly, none of these are extended versions of the rap battle scenes, which were the film's only real strength. Instead there are moments of lazy exposition, like Money Man (Patrick Regis) listening to hype about the Hard Cash crew on his car radio whilst waiting to meet them. A couple of heart-to-hearts between Danny (Walters) and Fable (Christopher Steward) feel cynically designed to get you interested in the characters after the preceding action has failed. "We're big men now, you know. We move on," says Fable. But this scene isn't going anywhere.

Perhaps the most redundant of all the footage is a sequence called 'Danny walks, smokes and thinks.' And yes, the title pretty much sums it up. The only surprise is that just when you think he's done smoking, walking and thinking, Danny lights up another cigarette and walks some more... It's a perfect example of Laxton's approach to this film - trying to set a mood with clichés of urban drama, but actually forgetting to give us the drama.

Still Life

One critic tagged it 'The British Boyz 'N' The Hood', but anyone who's seen that film will quickly figure out that this DVD just doesn't live up to the spin.

EXTRA FEATURES

Life & Lyrics DVD is released on Monday 26th February 2007.