Considering the monumental reputation this film had, it is surprisingly average, a very slow moving plot and with rather clunky and, at times, amateurish direction.
Even with its faults, this could have been a serious film, perhaps a masterpiece, if it had taken the easy route on several occasions. The earliest and most important of these cop outs is the shooting of Jody (Forest Whitaker). After its long (perhaps over long) opening sequence in which Jody is abducted, we feel we are at the start of a movie about moral choices and how, in this case the hero, Fergus, may have to do something he finds morally repugnant for the greater good. Alas, in a scene which completely deflated me, this choice is removed from him, Whittaker instead being run over by a British armoured car. Leaving aside the practical aspect (armoured cars are noisy things, not likely to creep up on you unnoticed), this completely destroys the powerful underlying tension of the film. Had Fergus shot Jody (or at least thought he had), then following his last request, had sought out the girl only to fall in love with her, the film would have asked serious questions about the nature of good and evil. Instead the hero becomes basically an errand boy.
I do wonder if this strange decision was caused by a need to placate the American audience and thus sanitise the IRA to a degree? Certainly some of the next scenes in London seem to represent a cosy tourist view of the city with chirpy barman Jim Broadbent happily giving out cocktails to customers on their second visit (never known a barman to do that) and a clichéd white chav version of Essex man complete with shell suit. This stands out since the film is so careful (rightly) not to create stereotype Irish, black or LGBT characters. But this courtesy is not extended to white English males.
The story meanders for a long time (with many rather pointless shots of a Jody bowling) both before and after the not so shocking reveal which I personally did not find that interesting. The story starts to flag just as Fergus's old IRA buddies show up. This lumbers to the final climax which again is rather amateurishly filmed.
If you want to see a great and beautifully shot film about the IRA and love, ODD MAN OUT by Carol Reed is a far finer work.
Even with its faults, this could have been a serious film, perhaps a masterpiece, if it had taken the easy route on several occasions. The earliest and most important of these cop outs is the shooting of Jody (Forest Whitaker). After its long (perhaps over long) opening sequence in which Jody is abducted, we feel we are at the start of a movie about moral choices and how, in this case the hero, Fergus, may have to do something he finds morally repugnant for the greater good. Alas, in a scene which completely deflated me, this choice is removed from him, Whittaker instead being run over by a British armoured car. Leaving aside the practical aspect (armoured cars are noisy things, not likely to creep up on you unnoticed), this completely destroys the powerful underlying tension of the film. Had Fergus shot Jody (or at least thought he had), then following his last request, had sought out the girl only to fall in love with her, the film would have asked serious questions about the nature of good and evil. Instead the hero becomes basically an errand boy.
I do wonder if this strange decision was caused by a need to placate the American audience and thus sanitise the IRA to a degree? Certainly some of the next scenes in London seem to represent a cosy tourist view of the city with chirpy barman Jim Broadbent happily giving out cocktails to customers on their second visit (never known a barman to do that) and a clichéd white chav version of Essex man complete with shell suit. This stands out since the film is so careful (rightly) not to create stereotype Irish, black or LGBT characters. But this courtesy is not extended to white English males.
The story meanders for a long time (with many rather pointless shots of a Jody bowling) both before and after the not so shocking reveal which I personally did not find that interesting. The story starts to flag just as Fergus's old IRA buddies show up. This lumbers to the final climax which again is rather amateurishly filmed.
If you want to see a great and beautifully shot film about the IRA and love, ODD MAN OUT by Carol Reed is a far finer work.