Imperative, also known as The Punished, offers a run-of-the-mill crime thriller in which a cynical, jaded, alcoholic cop who doesn’t play by the rules (former professional rugby player Keith Mason) matches wits against a killer (Jamie Coulter) who seems to be a big fan of the film Seven. Set in West Yorkshire (my old stomping grounds!), in the north of the UK, DCI Jack Sullivan (that’s Detective Chief Inspector for the Yanks) is tasked with tracking down a vigilante killer. Sullivan’s own wife has gone missing and that fact has made him both relentless and unstable. He has inner demons, with which the film lets us see him struggle through monologues and lots of swelling music.  Lots.

The killer, who has no name and is credited only as “The Killer” is social avenger in the style of John Doe of Seven or Jigsaw — he kills those whom he believes deserve it, as they have damaged society. He kills a young teacher, but it is revealed she sold drugs to students after school. We’ve seen it, and Coulter does what he can with the material.  There are one or two effective kill sequences.

Imperative is rather dark, literally – many of the scenes are set in alleyways, or poorly lit rooms, or the woods at night, and it can be difficult to see who is whom in the murk.  A precredit action sequence establishes Sullivan as a cop who gets the job done, albeit violently and by abusing suspects once in captivity.  The film then proceeds, alternating action sequence with long periods of conversation about Sullivan’s past, his wife, and how he will capture this killer (eventually).

Nothing original here, but it is all reasonably well done.  The performances are fine, the story rather paint-by-numbers.  If you have seen any cop versus killer films from the seventies through the nineties, you will recognize every set piece, every trope in Imperative. Writer/Director Thierry Chavrimootoo is rather young (18 as I understand it at the time of filming), and the film feels like a young filmmaker emulating the films he loves.  The film was also shot during Covid, and so it is certain that impacted what was possible on set.

Imperative does, however, show a good deal of promise, and I will be interested to see what kind of filmmaker into which Chavrimootoo develops.  Worth a watch if you like police procedurals or West Yorkshire (although the film does not take nearly enough advantage of that setting and much more could have been done to capture the place – as they say, “it’s grim up North,” that could have aided the film to be more moody than it is).