Sion (Craig Russell) is an ex-soldier suffering with PTSD who arrives in a Welsh town. He enrols at a gym where he sees a local drug dealer Dwayne (Kai Owen) being physically abusive with manager Katrina (Kezia Burrows). Sion goes to his home and kills Dwayne, keeping part of him to eat for the protein. His action inadvertently sparks a war between rival gangs that results in many more deaths.
This is a hard film to pigeonhole, and is all the better. Part horror, part thriller/procedural and part comedy, it is refreshingly different from the norm, though it does have echoes of Shane Meadows. Director Tony Burke, who co-wrote it with Mike Oughton, captures the soulless, depressing post industrial location and the blighted lives of those that live there, really well.
Russell is a brooding presence and Burrows manages to bring a lot of heart to quite a small part, and their near romance forms the central, serious part of the story. Katrina can see that Sion is not like the other losers who she interacts with and tries to make a connection with him. The final scene shows she succeeded, but not in the way she expected.
The humorous moments come from the array of supporting characters. The bickering, amateurish drug dealers have some good lines and there is terrific pairing of Andrea Hall and Charles Dale as mismatched cops who come to respect each other.
Protein had a brief theatrical run earlier in the year and now can be rented from the usual services.
Rating: 8 out of 10