Set in 1748 London, the film opens with Captain James Macleane (Jonny Lee Miller, Hackers) en route to debtor’s prison. His stagecoach crashes with another and, while crouching in the darkness, Macleane witnesses two shadowy figures rob the passengers. One crook swallows a giant red jewel after being shot by the approaching authorities. As he lies there slowly dying, the lawmen press his wound in an attempt to procure the name of his accomplice. The wounded criminal doesn’t finger his friend and Macleane watches as he is put out of his misery.

Several days later, the on-the-lam Macleane watches the outlaw’s funeral from a distance and returns that night to dig up the body and fish the jewel out of the cadaver. But his grave-robbing is interrupted by the dead man’s partner, who has returned to lay claim to the jewel. His name is Plunkett (Robert Carlyle, Ravenous) and, with his gun to Macleane’s head, Plunkett makes him delve into the corpse’s innards in a very disgusting-looking and sounding scene. They eventually surrender as authorities surround them and Plunkett swallows the oft-eaten jewel for safe keeping.

In New Gate Prison, we discover that Macleane is formerly of wealth but ended up in tattered clothes because of monstrous gambling debts. Plunkett approaches him with a plan – use the jewel to buy their way out of the clink and, once freed, join forces to rob the rich. Macleane agrees, but the two must wait until Plunkett passes their bauble, which eventually hits the metal pan with a satisfying "clang."

The plan includes reestablishing Macleane as a "gentleman" in local society as he stakes out the ritziest parties in town in an attempt to learn the most vulnerable rich folk to rob. He loses money gambling at these parties only to promise "I’ll get ii back," which he does – and then some – as he and Plunkett hijack the mark’s stagecoach on the way home. Macleane will even go so far as to copulate with disgusting richies and at one point gets a bad case of "the pox," an early venereal disease. Later, the men disrupt the heifer’s wedding, robbing its opulent guests during a fantastic fireworks display in this great-looking scene.

As their escapades continue, their notoriety rises, as well as their reward for capture. Plunkett and Macleane even knock over an important figurehead in local government, who happens to be escorting his lovely young niece (Liv Tyler, Cookie’s Fortune) for whom Macleane fall. Of interesting note, this is Tyler’s second period piece that features characters drawing at ten paces. The other is the upcoming Ralph Fiennes film Onegin.

The picture’s modern twist includes piercing, prominent cursing, widespread gambling and the use of modern music, which is a bit distracting at first, but as the film continues you realize that it’s better than the typical harpsichord crap that would ordinarily accompany a frocky period piece like this. Critics will probably laugh this film off, but its fantastic looks – especially the nighttime robbery scenes – appear to be equal to that of the upcoming Sleepy Hollow (at least from what I’ve seen from the trailer). The hodgepodge script comes from five writers and the movie was filmed in three locations - London, Prague and Spain.

1:33 – for some strong violence, sexuality and language