A supernatural take on “Death Wish” meets “Faust,” “Heartless” is an uneasy mixture of B-movie shocks, social commentary and sentimentality that shows a potent imagination at work.
An appealing Jim Sturgess (“21”) does much to carry the film as a shy sufferer forever disfigured by a large facial birthmark. In working-class East London, he dodges gangs of vicious thugs prowling the night. They might be wearing masks — or they might be hoodie-wearing, man-size reptiles.
Just when you think you have the movie pegged as a sci-fi vigilante flick, though, the “Faust” theme comes up in a surprising and, I think, dramatically false way. A sappy ending is another fault. But there are several delicious examples of writer-director Philip Ridley’s macabre wit, perhaps most notably during the too-brief appearance of a priceless Eddie Marsan as a chilling but funny apparition called “the weapons man.” His modest proposal: “One brutal murder. Very reasonable!”