Out this weekend is the thriller Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels starring former Wimbledon hard man and current Queens Park Rangers assistant manager Vinnie Jones (right).

Never one to have shirked a tackle, Jones has used his bonecrushing image to get himself on the silver screen playing the part of a gangland enforcer. In a recent interview in the Observer Jones makes several observations about violence, something he has been very close to throughout his entire playing career.

"It's horrifying to think now that there are kids as young as 12 or 13, like those ones in America, killing other kids. That sort of stuff should be left to older people," says Jones.

The former defender doesn't do touchy-feely films. He does straight stuff basing his character on real people. In one scene in the film the former Crazy Gang member is asked to administer a severe beating to an opponent. So he closes a car door on the head of his victim a number of times before finishing him off with a comprehensive kicking. The crew helpfully placed a wooden box on the ground for Jones to kick as a standin for the victim.

After he had finished the scene, Jones looked up and saw the whole crew staring at him open-mouthed. He thought he'd done something wrong, made some kind of mistake. It was then that the spontaneous cheering and clapping broke out. The crew, it seemed, had witnessed violence dished out with its own particular brand of authenticity, something they had never before seen.