four lions

I tend to have a bit of a marmite relationship with the Chris Morris's stuff.

Some things I've adored (the Day Today, Brass Eye) and others I've really not liked at all (Jam, Nathan Barley).  And yes, I appreciate he wasn't the sole person involved with all of those, but he's the main force behind Four Lions.

Well, in this case I have to confess to being somewhere in between - there was a lot I liked about Four Lions, and it has some very funny stuff in it, but I also found it a little frustrating in some regards and other bits didn't seem to work at all.

One thing I definitely wouldn't say is that it has a pop at Muslims - it's not anti-Islam in any sense.  It is anti-suicide bombing and it does parody terrorism in quite a twisted way, but I don't think there's any real problem with those.

What I did have a bit of a problem with is that it relies quite heavily on stupid people.  Two of the characters are clearly not working with a full deck of cards.  Now I'm sure that such people are probably taken advantage of by terrorists, it's just that we don't really see anything of that side of things.

And that applies to all the characters - why are they terrorists?  What has convinced them that blowing themselves up is the thing to do?  Weirdly there's more on this in the extras, where issues such as racism are touched on, but in this it's not at all clear how these particularly guys came to be terrorists, just that main character is convinced it's the thing to do and the rest are either idiots or not quite mentally all there.

Another point of frustration was the flipside of things.  I appreciate the focus was on the main characters, but the film does also touch on the government side of things, I just wish there'd been a bit more of that.  I'm not saying it should have been like 24 or anything like that, but a bit more of the authorities botching things would probably have helped provide a bit more balance - if the terrorists are stupid but still getting away with it, then clearly the police are too.

Which is the other aspect I found didn't work - the logistical aspects of being a terrorist and that side of things doesn't actually seem to be consistently portrayed.  So when they eventually decide to target the marathon they basically turn up in London in a van, have no troubles finding somewhere close by to park and then at one point basically randomly join some of the runners.  It's just unrealistic and surely the point of the film was to focus on that side of things.

I've been quite harsh there - as I say, there was plenty in the film I enjoyed, and some good comedy.  It also makes some good points and makes you think.  I guess my real issue is that it's not entirely consistent with that, but it doesn't really harm the film, as such, it just feels like they missed a couple of opportunities.