Adulthood

Sam has spent six years behind bars for a killing that happened during his school days. When he walks out, he hopes to leave the violence behind, but the city quickly reminds him it will not be that easy. A shadow from the past seems to be closing in, and someone is determined to settle a score with him. As he tries to pick up the pieces of a fragile adulthood, old loyalties pull him toward dangerous circles and new threats test his sense of right and wrong. The film paints a stark portrait of urban life where guilt, friendship and survival collide.

Directed by Noel Clarke, Adulthood arrived in 2008 as a continuation of the world introduced in Kidulthood. It stems from Clarke's screenplay rather than a novel or adaptation, and it keeps the London street feel that marked the first film.

Box office data for Adulthood are not widely published, and its commercial footprint remained modest. The film found its strongest audiences in the United Kingdom among fans of the urban crime drama, rather than breaking into international markets with a limited release elsewhere.

Adulthood sits in the late 2000s wave of British urban dramas and helped give a platform to a new generation of young actors. It kept the focus on loyalty, consequences, and life on tough city streets, contributing to ongoing conversations about youth, violence and social resilience.

Critics described the film as a blunt and unflinching look at how crime shapes choices in urban life. Performances by Clarke and Dyer earned attention for their intensity, while the film's raw atmosphere and moral messiness drew praise and, for some critics, provoked uneasy questions about justice and friendship among audiences worldwide.