TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Russ Hog I have to point out - this character's actions did not make sense - and the script feels like a first draft. For example - this man agrees to meet the politician who killed his brother thirty years ago - and a film company wants to film their meeting? Why? Why would any of these people agree to do this? Plus - he goes to kill the politician? Kill him? Why? To go to prison? He has two daughters. Is he truly so hurt - that he would throw away his entire family? If that is so - than how can we as the audience care about him - because his actions are so selfish and destructive?A stronger choice would have been to motivate these characters to meet in a way that they were forced - not given a choice. The entire way the story is structured - it just opens the door for long winded monologues and narration and unmotivated exposition that bogs down any sense of believability. Honestly - it is just bad screen writing. The dialogue is good - I guess - but the story structure is weak.Then there is a young girl who talks to the bereaved brother during the interview - and she remains deadly silent about his intentions to kill the politician (unprofessional and unrealistic) and then she later tells the man how much the politician he wants to kill is sorry for what he did - but why did she not say this in the first place? Her entire character existed only to get information out to the audience - and that could have been handled a lot more professional. It all ends with a fist fight between the two - and Liam gets to jump into action star phase. Very silly and forced. Also - this film has a lot of long monologues and narration that slow down the pace and - if acted well (the film is well acted) it can work - but it is not the strongest choice for a script. I just feel the movie feels like a draft that should have been revised. Make the man who is in pain really be sympathetic - and not someone who abused the women in his life and came up with a ridiculous plot to murder someone. Make the politician and he be forced to meet by circumstances that is outside of their control. Motivate the exposition dialogue instead of just put characters into place and have them talk - for no good reason. And if a character learns some information - like there is a murder that is being plotted - for goodness sake - have them tell someone and not keep quiet.

gavin6942 The story of former UVF member Alistair Little (Liam Neeson). Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffen's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called it "very good at stating the obvious but fails to bring new insight to this age-old morality tale". That seems like a fair opinion to me. The film is good, topical, and Neeson is a great casting choice. But it does not seem to add anything new.Sadly, I am not sure if this film had much impact outside of the United Kingdom, because the Irish problem is something Americans are only vaguely aware of.

Sindre Kaspersen German screenwriter and television and film director Oliver Hirschbiegel's sixth feature film which was written by British screenwriter Guy Hibbert, is partly inspired by real events which took place in Northern Ireland in the mid-1970s. It premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic section at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in 2009, was shot on locations in Northern Ireland and is an Ireland-UK co-production which was produced by producers Eoin O'Callaghan and Stephen Wright. It tells the story about a 17-year-old Protestant named Alistair Little who on his first assignment for a loyalist paramilitary group called the Ulster Volunteer Force on the 29th of October in 1975 in the town of Lurgan, Northern Ireland kills a 19-year-old Catholic man named Jim Griffin right in front of the eyes of his younger brother named Joe. Thirty-three years later a documentary team for the television industry has made arrangements for a meeting between Alistair Little and Joe Griffin at a place called the River Finn centre which is to be publicly broadcasted and where the two men will get a chance to confront each other and tell their stories. Distinctly and subtly directed by European filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel, this finely paced and somewhat fictional tale which is narrated by the two main characters and mostly from their viewpoints, draws an involving and humane portrayal of a middle-aged man who after having spent the last three decades in guilt and thinking about the young boy who witnessed him executing his older brother, and another middle-aged man who has spent his last three decades feeling guilty after being blamed by his mother for not doing anything to prevent the killer from taking her son's life. While notable for it's naturalistic and variegated milieu depictions, fine cinematography by Irish cinematographer Ruairi O'Brien, production design by production designer Mark Lowry and use of colors, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about an Irish husband and father of two whom is looking for his five minutes of heaven and a single man whom after having served twelve years in prison and the following years using his experience to tell other people how to get through their lives is looking for reconciliation, depicts two dense and interrelated studies of character and contains a timely score by composers David Holmes and Leo Abrahams.This somewhat historic, conversational and psychological television film which is set in Lurgan, County Donegal and Belfast in Northern Ireland in the late 20th century during the Troubles and the early 21st century, and where a man, marred by an observation from his past, is looking for a way to get the image of the man who took one of his family members away from him out of his mind, has to let go of his vengeance and find it in him to forgive, is impelled and reinforced by it's fragmented narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, brilliant scenes between Joe and Vika, poignant monologues, documentary-like realism, existentialistic, austere and at times humorous dialog, engaging acting performances by Irish actors James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson and the fine acting performance by Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca. A cinematic, dramatic and acutely reflective character piece which gained, among other awards, the World Cinema Directing Award Oliver Hirschbiegel and the World Cinema Screen writing Award Guy Hibbert at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in 2009.

nzallblacks_12 Those are not my words. However, they're a good titular fit for this brave film.Finally one filmmaker chose to take a closer look. And then he had the courage to expose the human aftermath of terrorist deeds. In this case, the setting is Northern Ireland, near the capitol, Belfast. For sure many of us are well familiar with the sectarian violence that gripped the emerald isle, long as I can remember.And for decades the international media gave us frequent snapshots of the 'progress'. We either saw the bloody carnage scene of a pub blown up by the Provos or we were transported to cemetery. There the grief stricken members of a Catholic family laid to rest one of their own. Usually it was a young male Catholic, 'freedom fighter' if you will.Most likely he suffered a violent fate. And no doubt he was murdered by the IRA's sworn enemies: the Protestant Orangemen. These Brit zealots usually banded together in select (and outlawed) groups. Two organizations featured prominent: the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) or the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary).In the film, Alistair Little (Liam Neeson) sides with the Protestants. Why not? He's born there. He's one of them. Then as a teenager he volunteers to join their 'cause'. As an act of loyalty he murders in cold blood, a Catholic contractor. The victim's younger brother, Joe Griffen, witnessed the brutal scene.James Nesbitt portrays the lad, now grown to man size almost 30 years later. At the behest of an Irish TV program, Nesbitt agrees to meet the murderer. They would chronicle and film the emotion charged 'live' meeting.Still plagued by guilt of not warning his slain brother, Nesbitt lacks the courage to follow through. Moreover, he has serious doubts about the 'reconciliation' process. Northern Ireland isn't South Africa.Liam Neeson too suffers from guilt over his earlier life. Even though he was incarcerated for 11 years he's not convinced that fact or act of contrition will placate Nesbitt. He too has doubts about this encounter.This film explores their eventual impromptu mano-y-mano meeting later. That occurs late in the film after the original planned,orchestrated televised 'interview' failed. With much pain filled emotional depth we the viewers are called to witness the latter tumultuous event.With as much sensitivity as they could possibly serve, the producers and the director handled all the scenes as true professionals. Still, they did not shirk their duty to broader humanity either. They let it all play out: the good, the bad and the all too ugly.And I'm glad they chose that 'honest' tact. Anything less would have been, well, fluff.One final note...Both Neeson and Nesbitt gave stirring, moving performances in reprising their real life characters.Bravo...