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Marching Powder opens with an animated intro with Jack Jones (Danny Dyer), depicting the wooing of his better half, and how he “smashed her back doors in“. Plus, upon buying their first place together, he had such choices as spending £60 on an electric kettle, or £50 for “a gram of Dickie” (cocaine).
This ‘cartoon’ also harks back to the last time we had such a cinematic experience with the awful Joker: Folie À Deux – which opens with a situation happening for the Joker which I won’t spoil here if you haven’t seen it. However, the best thing about that film?
Well, it was the trailer for Marching Powder! I saw this at Odeon, and later noted from the BBFC site that similar versions had been recorded for Vue and Cineworld, although unfortunately I can’t find them online, but Danny Dyer had also recorded a non-cinema-specific alternative which I’ll link below, and that IS online.
However, for the trailer I witnessed at the time, Mr Dyer first introduces himself and conceeds that he knows we’re all here to watch “Joker: Fondle Your Dicks”, going on to talk about his film while in a cinema-based environment.
As such, the angry man behind him interjects, only to get an elbow in the face from Dyer – who doesn’t even turn around! That stunt must’ve taken a good bit of practice.
After the trailer… we return to Dyer, who is now sporting a face full of Phoenix-style Joker make-up, and tells us to enjoy the film. 😀
For this film, Jack is addicted to fighting, even though as he’s fast approaching 50, he’s usually going to come off worse. Such situations generally come around away-day trips to football matches, where precious little of the beautiful game gets witnessed by these participants.
Certain he’s heading for a jail sentence, we get the first of a number of moments where Dyer breaks the fourth wall, admitting to us about the judge, “If he doesn’t send me to jail, I’ll give him a blowjob.”
Since, on this occasion, he’s NOT going to the slammer, but instead is being given 6 weeks to prove that he’s turned his life around, stopped drinking (cue lots of pear juice), found steady employment (hmm…) and absolutely stopped fighting (erm…), he returns to us… “I take that back”.
Reaching the big 5-0 also makes you question whether or not you’re still relevant in today’s society, so in Jack’s case, he’s being given a chance by father-in-law Ron to help his son, Kenny Boy (Calum MacNab), on to the right path in life. Alas, the lad is several sandwiches short of a picnic and thinks nothing of robbing drug dealers, knowing for sure that they certainly won’t be going to the cops about it! Foolproof, yeah? Well… I was thinking at the time that they probably won’t take kindly to it.
Jack also needs to smooth things over with his wife, Dani (Stephanie Leonidas), who has some very choice words for him about getting his life together, leading to Couples therapy, and her going back to art class, where she catches the eye of teacher Francis.
Coming in at a neat 96-minutes including the closing credits, so about 90 minutes before they begin, in case you need to head off, Dyer and writer/director Nick Love have brought us a hugely-enjoyable movie that while it might not have been up for a Best Picture Oscar, had it been released earlier, it still tries to open some positive outcomes for some of its characters – whether or not they take them – as opposed to going down the route of “Let’s have everyone fight for an hour-and-a-half”.
There’s also a great number of laughs, even if not all of them will travel abroad, such as when Dani wears a beret as she heads out, leading to Jack asking, “Why are you dressed like Jeremy Corbyn?”
Additionally is a moment which is slightly different in the film than it is in the trailer, and I’ll put this behind a spoiler header, even though you’ll basically see it if you watch the trailer anyway, although the change is used to a good effect here (unlike Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, around a video recorded by Captain Howard, as you can find in that review):
Overall, Marching Powder is a delightful kick in the balls for entertainment, so whether with friends, significant others or on your ‘jack jones’, get thee to the cinema!
And the pièce de résistance, is that I saw this on Wednesday night at an early screening for the film, and not only did I film the intro for it, with Danny Dyer and Nick Love, but I managed to get a selfie, afterwards!
I didn’t think it would happen, though, since as I saw them hot-foot it out as the credits began, I figured they’d be escorted out of a side door soon after, but then I originally thought they might arrive/leave via the fire exit, so who knows?
So, I just stayed for the credits as usual, rather than stand in a slow queue to exit – since it was packed, and when I came out, it turned out he was amongst other humans, and still held up in the dome area inbetween the Odeon and the escalators down to the rest of the Trafford Centre, as people were constantly going up to him (and he was letting them). As the Trafford Centre staff were moving him on to escort him out safely, I tried going round to where he was approaching, but just saw a wall of staff, so went back round, I saw a gap and sneaked in next to him.
I should’ve taken the shot landscape as that’s best for two people unless it’s full-length, but I didn’t have any time to think, it took me a moment to get it right as best I could (ignore my dreadful camera angle – I can take a better picture of myself!), and as I eventually get the picture taken, Danny says, “Come on, mate, stop facking abaaaht”1 🤣🤣🤣
That was glorious, and I’ll never forget that! 😀
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credit scenes.
Marching Powder is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 96 minutes
Release date: March 7th 2025
Studio: True Brit Entertainment
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 9/10
Director: Nick Love
Producers: Chris Clark, Will Clarke
Screenplay: Nick Love
Music: Alfie Godfrey
Cast:
Jack Jones: Danny Dyer
Dani Jones: Stephanie Leonidas
Kenny Boy: Calum MacNab
Judge: Philippe Brenninkmeyer
Screw: Daniel Fearn
Roger: Dean Harrison
JJ: Arty Dyer
Ziggy: Phillip Ray Tommy
Fisher: Leon Dean
Gloria: Janet Kumah
Jeff: Stanley J Browne
Conservative Party Member: Jennifer Lane
Labour Party Member: Jemma Geanaus
Homeless Girl: Jade Dowsett-Roberts
Barman: Dean Christie
Police Officer: Jonathan Ralph Whittaker
Young Trendy: Gurditta Singh
Casual / Football Hooligan: Del Cleveland
Inked sleeve: Declan Doyle
Drug Dealer: Gus Hudgins
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.