Originally a trilogy of crime films in the United Kingdom, Pusher has been remade for American audiences. The film follows the same format; drug dealer Frank (Richard Coyle) has a deal go south and he’s now £55,000 in debt to Serbian drug lord Milo (Zlatko Burić). Things don’t look too good for Frank as seemingly every opportunity he has to get the money goes bad, and soon he finds himself at the end of the line.

Pusher chronicles Frank for a week as he attempts to recover the money he needs to pay Milo back. At first, it seems like an easy task as he goes and collects old debts and makes a series of drug sales, but as time goes on, he becomes more desperate. Still, there’s never a sense of urgency. Milo is the most laidback drug lord I’ve ever since. Time and time again he gives Frank more opportunities to pay back the money. Frank was supposed to deliver it right after the deal went down, and Milo calming continues to push it back further and further without any consequences until towards the end of the film. In reality, Frank probably would have been dead within 24 hours; I don’t think it really matters that you’re friends in the drug world.

On the outside, Pusher looks like a high intensity crime thriller similar in vein to Snatch. The opening plays to that with a savvy introduction to all the key characters, complete with indie rock music and name titles. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities end. Watching Frank go about conducting business and attempting to pay back Milo is not as interesting as you would imagine. Yes, the drug world is a dirty and dangerous place, but director Luis Prieto manages to make it completely boring.

There’s no sense of urgency or direness in Frank, and Milo doesn’t mind he’s missing £55,000. Nobody seems to care about much of anything in the film and as a result, it suffers. I can only hope that Pusher doesn’t follow the same path as the original and do two more films. I don’t think I’ll be able to take much more of this.