Monday, August 26, 2013
More troubles
The "final" agreement in the Ireland difficulties is imminent.
Well, two years away but the pressures are on the extremists to pull it in and the cops to wind it down.
In this tight little thriller, a cop, Clive Owen, recruits a young mother and member of a key family in the IRA to turncoat.
Actually, he entraps her, arrests her and then intimidates her into playing his game.
A nice little surprising film. Tense and difficult.
No wonder they called them "The Troubles".
is the name of another agent also under pressure. The two are set against each other by Owen's superiors without his knowledge.
How all this works out is the subject of the film's latter half.
As usual, it is hard for an outsider to pick up on who is who. Subtitles became essential.
No wonder it took years to work through all the bullshit and come to an understanding that peace was, at least temporarily, the best outcome for all sides.
I am glad I saw it. It is a 3 out of Netflix5 for me.
As a feature film, it came and went without hardly a notice. The case with lots of good smaller films. Too bad. The state of movies today.
It was good to see Clive Owen in a good small picture. I used to like him a lot. Then he went with the money or whatever guys like him do and he became a pawn in the great Hollywood game.
Now, a bit beefier and more focused, he shows his chops in this utterly convincing performance of a cop in a quandary.
Welcome back Clive. I might watch you again on a regular basis.
Labels: films
