Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

a-lawson-1 pretty rubbish. Timothy Dalton's Irish accent is laughable. The portrayal of the English soldier as some sort of hero is utter crap and after reading other peoples comments on this film its pretty clear that they are motivated by their political beliefs rather than how bad the quality of acting really is. In terms of the conflict in n.i, no one has their hands clean. By portraying the I.R.A as thugs and then the British soldiers and R.U.C special branch as the good guys takes away any impartiality and leaves you with the same unionist crap about how the British were impartial upholders of the law in Ireland and the nationalists were all terrorists.

dredd1981 This film is something of a mixed bag! As a fan of Timothys work I was eager to watch this film just to see Tim Dalton,and not so much for the "Troubles" storyline which,and lets face it,Hollywood has done an abysmal job of bringing to the big screen. Dodgy accents aside,this is a fairly accurate film which shows the IRA as the thugs they are,murdering police officers and shooting children. I thought Timothys performance was pretty good,although the accent needed a bit of work. Cary Elwes was thoroughly annoying as the army lt trying to befriend "gingy", who was equally irritating because he constantly had that "i picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue" look on his face. If you want to see a fairly accurate portrayal of the terrorism that existed in Northern Ireland in the 1990's warts and all,watch this movie! If you want to cling to the belief that the IRA are heroes fighting for truth,justice and a pint of Guinness instead of being the murderers and drug dealers they really are, then my advice is to get real!

mar9 The makers of this film threw plenty into the mix of a deceptively simple story of a reluctant IRA man (Anthony Brophy) forced to turn supergrass when caught redhanded carrying out a rocket attack on a judge. There are enough bits and pieces thrown in here about the 800-year history of the troubles to give a decent idea of the big picture, even to those like myself who aren't all that familiar with Irish history. We see a bit of the historical background, the current English, Loyalist and IRA positions, how hatred is perpetuated through the next generation, how the innocent as always are victimised the most. It's a heady mix in a gritty and disturbing film, and to their credit, the film makers quite rightly decided not to resolve their story, just like the Troubles themselves. One quibble. Despite good performances, it's a bit hard to accept the central characters being as old as they're supposed to be. Ginger (have I spelt that right?) is meant to have have spent a total of 10 years in prison and we assume his wife has spent an equal time doing it tough raising the kids. It's a bit to believe this when they are played by young spunks Brophy and Maria Lennon.

Craig Anthony I stumbled onto this on Showtime on a rainy night and expected little of it. To my surprise I was drawn into the plight of those trapped in the vicious stand-off of "The Troubles".The movie conveys powerfully the oppressiveness of the weight of history that sustains the hatreds and the impossible dilemmas faced by people trying to navigate between the opposing forces.The acting is generally excellent, particularly Maria Lennon as the wife torn between her husband and her loyalties. Anthony Brophy is superb as the trapped husband. The only weak link is Timothy Dalton who chews a bit too much of the scenery as the detective reeling in the unwilling informant.The lengthy nude scene of Simone Bendix as Cary Elwes' lover is not "essential to the plot" but Simone is so stunning it would be churlish to complain.Taut and effective. Give it a look.