Tuesday 24 January 2012

Four Lions

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Year:2010
Country of origin:UK / France
Director:Chris Morris
Genre:Terrorism satire
Starring:Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Riz Ahmed, Adeel Akhtar
Rating:3/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/
Tagline:No tagline
Favourite line:"Fuck the Mini Babybel's"

Some controversy upon initial release, this comes from the wonderfully deviant, darkly demented mind of Chris Morris, he of Brasseye, The Day Today and Nathan Barley fame.
A British comedy about the extremist elements of the Islamic community, set in Sheffield?
That can't be any good, surely?

The plot:
3 young Asian Muslim men, and one older, white Muslim convert are hatching a plan. Instead of sitting back and allowing the infidels to continue in their sinful ways, why not strike back at the heart of British society?
Why not invoke fear in an already nervous population?
Only trouble is, they are utterly incompetent. Whether it's firing rocket launchers facing the wrong way, falling over a wall and accidentally blowing up a sheep, or dancing with the foxy next door neighbour whilst surrounded by all the bomb-making gear, if they can find a way to mess things up they probably will.
After some umming and arring, they select both target and method: Suicide bomb attacks at the London Marathon.

Sounds like a right barrel of laughs, and no mistake. And right there lies the problem. It ain't funny.
Sure, it has its moment and occasionally raises a wry smile, but not consistently, and certainly not often enough.
As for the storyline, whilst decent at its core, the goofball antics of the characters quickly becomes irritating, and all too often veers over into Keystone Cops style bickering and head slapping.
And what about the message of the movie? Surely the only purpose of making a satirical comedy is to make a point, and here all I got from it was that all Pakistani men are fanatical religious crazies and bumbling imbeciles.
And I really don't think that was the point.
As a self-confessed Morris fan-boy, I must say I was a tad disappointed.

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