User reviews

Throughout the years, the IRA and the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland have been a source of inspiration for countless British and Irish movies. What can 'Shadow Dancer' add to what we already know about this conflict? The answer is: nothing, really. This film isn't about the struggle for freedom, it isn't about catholics and protestants, it isn't even about right or wrong. It's only about suspense. This isn't a political movie, it's a thriller.

In fact, this movie could just as easily have been set in the context of the Italian mafia or a Mexican drugs gang. The story about a young female terrorist who, after a failed bombing attempt, becomes an informant for the authorities to escape a prison sentence, is extremely suspenseful. She lives in constant fear of being discovered, which would almost certainly lead to her execution. 'I am dead', she literally tells her contact at one point.

The film starts off with a clever flash-back, a very intense scene that explains her motivation to become a terrorist. The rest of the film is told in chronological order, with the suspense rising gradually, until the unexpected and dramatic climax.

In a subplot, we see that the British secret service is subject to the same sort of internal discussions, infighting and ego-tripping as the IRA. Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson (nice to see her again!) are fine as secret service persons, but the best acting is done by Andrea Riseborouh as the proud and independent terrorist Collette McVeigh.

The film is also excellent in recreating the atmosphere of the catholic working class neighbourhoods in Belfast (actually, it is shot in Dublin), where terrorism in the 1990's was a part of everyday life. Director James Marsh uses faded colours in many scenes to recreate the rundown streets and interiors.

This is a gripping, intelligent psychological thriller with excellent acting and a plot that will have you hooked from start to finish. I was amazed the IMDb-rating is not higher than 6.6.

SHADOW DANCER (definition: a dance presented by casting shadows of dancers on a screen) is another film about the conflicts of the IRA during the 1990s. Despite the fact that the theme is a recurring one in films, the core meaning of the conflict remains a bewildering mystery to those not living in Ireland or in England, and that is what makes this film fall short of being excellent - there is much significant information that is not shared with the audience as though we all understand fully both sides of the conflict well enough to muddle through the outlines of the plot that are presented. Tom Brady wrote screenplay based on his own novel and even director James Marsh can't seem to iron it out into a comprehensible story.

The film opens in 1973 in Belfast when young Collette (Maria Laird) is asked by her father to run an errand but she is far more interested in making bead necklaces so she sends her younger brother Sean (Ben Smyth) who is killed outside their home. Jump to 1993 and Collette (Andrea Riseborough), mother of a young son, has become a mole ('tout') for the IRA, and is arrested in the London tube after leaving a bomb in the facility. MI5 (definition: Military Intelligence section 5 is a British intelligence agency working to protect the UK's national security against threats such as terrorism and espionage) Agent Mac (Clive Owen) offers a deal to Collette to become an informer. She accepts the agreement to protect her son and in return Mac offers a new identity to her after a period working for the MI5. Soon Mac learns that his superior Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson) is using Collette to protect her mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find the identity of the informer and protect Collette. In the midst of all of this Collette's brothers Connor (Domhnall Gleeson) and Gerry (Aidan Gillen) and their mother (Brid Brennan) become targets for both sides. In the end the true informer is a surprise to everyone and the film documents the impact of terrorism on family and its human cost.

Though there are moments of fine acting, the entire movie seems as though it was shot in a fog: the focus is as blurry as the action. If the audience is completely familiar with the IRA vs. MI5 conflicts, then the film will likely appeal. Otherwise, read up about Irish politics before attempting to understand all the nuances in this film.

Grady Harp

The multi-dimensional layers of the Northern Ireland troubles offer rich pickings to thriller writers. Several good books have appeared, but films about the era have yet to find their feet. As with Vietnam War films for the Americans, time and perspective are required before stories stripped of partisan hyperbole emerge. The eponymous book upon which this film is based is written by BBC journalist Tom Bradby who reported from Northern Ireland in the 1990's, the era in which this film is set. With funding from the BBC, Eire and the Lottery Fund the politics was always going to be a problem, however Bradby neatly sidesteps this by producing an apolitical thriller, not a polemic. There are no good guys/bad guys as such, just people responding to a time and period over which they had no control. The Director, James Marsh , directed the acclaimed documentary "Man on Wire". That documentary experience combined with Bradby's journalistic training sets the tone for the film.

National reviews for Shadow dancer have been very good, but should be viewed with some caution. Bradby is a popular figure amongst the journalist community and some of the notices have owed more to the principle of doing a friend a favour, than exercising due critical discipline.

For raw material, The Troubles take some beating. The British Government in 1968 was not that bothered about Northern Ireland, nor were the people of the Mainland, but were forced into upholding the Constitution. British Colonialism was the last thing on British minds. British troops arrived to safeguard catholic lives and property, then became the enemy through no fault of their own. The Catholic population was right to demand equal rights and in the absence of Protestant dominated Stormont Government had no alternative other than to call upon the IRA to defend them. But the 1970's IRA quickly developed into a very different beast to the Michael Collins era IRA, with splinter groups such as the INLA even further removed, mirrored by the Protestant UDA and UVF. Turf wars and criminality soon became as important as politics.The British people really were not concerned about whether Northern Ireland was in , or out, of Britain – but took exception to its soldiers being killed and its cities bombed. Equally, the Eire government was keen to play the united Ireland card for political purposes – but dreaded the day when the practicalities actually came about, as Northern Ireland would then become Dublin's problem, not London's. It is against this backdrop that the film is set.

Shadow Dancer eschews all the aforementioned intrigue in favour of a people, rather than events driven story, and works well because of it. The running time of 100 minutes is tight for a thriller with screen time dominated by Clive Owen as Mac, an MI 5 handler, and Andrea Riseborough as Collette, an IRA volunteer. Both are well cast and convincing, but the intensity of that relationship does not have sufficient screen time which undermines a key dimension of the film. There is little overt action in this story in the form of explosions, violence or chases. Bradby does well to keep the narrative moving, Marsh's grasp of on screen drama is less assured.

The opening quarter of an hour is very strong. We are initially taken back to 1973 when Collette, as a little girl , delegates a shop errand that her father had given her to her little brother, only for him to be killed by a stray bullet in the street. Then in 1993 we see her as a Failed, and captured, London bomber. Dialogue is at a minimum, action, motive and result are implied not overt. So far so good. However the turning of Collette as an informer is a little perfunctory, it is a case of " No way.......oh, alright then." The authenticity and sense of time, fashion, place and dialogue is good, however , presumably because of funding, the locations are in Dublin, not Belfast which robs the spectacle of some of its drama. The "grey" that seemed to pervade the entire city is bafflingly broken by the decision of Collette, working as a spy, to wear a bright red raincoat for her clandestine meetings with Mac. There may have been some symbolic significance in this, but for practical purposes it was risible.

An awkward sub plot involving inter security service rivalry is frustratingly portrayed. Gillian Anderson appears as a senior MI5 Officer for no particular reason other than to sell the film in America for neither she as a character, nor her as an actor, adds anything to proceedings. The internal machinations of the IRA are also under drawn. Gerry, the local commander has to organise operations against the British, funerals, discussions about British Peace proposals, house break-ins , tout hunts, torture and executions in around twenty minutes screen time. A promising and pivotal character suffers as a result.

The denouement to the tale works well in plot terms, and will delight Republicans, leaving the audience guessing as to what had really happened, but is undermined by the lack of characterisation. . Bradby as a journalist is good at the narrative, Marsh as the documentary maker is good at recording it, but as a drama it is good rather than excellent, a criticism more of what it could have been than of what it is not, although I am sure that budget restraints play their part. An IRA funeral confrontation is well set up, but in long shot looks puny and fizzles out. The visceral horror of terrorism is also noticeable by its absence. Eagle eyed viewers will enjoy an on screen news report which features Tom Bradby as the reporter, but with a pseudonym as a tag line. A more experienced director of action and drama, a bigger budget, and a more experienced screenplay writer may yet deliver Bradby the on screen spy thriller success he aims for.

"Shadow Dancer" from 2012 stars Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, and Gillian Anderson. I'm not sure what the situation with this movie was because it only made $400,000.

The movie takes place in Belfast, and in the first scene, a young girl, Collette, is told by her father to buy him some cigarettes. She doesn't want to go, so instead, she sends her little brother Sean.

The action then shifts to 1993, and we see the adult Collette (Riseborough) deliberately leaving her purse in the London tube; as she escapes from the tube, she is arrested. An MI-5 agent, Mac (Owen) offers her a deal -- no prison time if she will become an informant and at the end of her time working for him, a new identity. Because she has a young son, she agrees.

Mac ultimately learns that his superior (Anderson) is using Collette as a red herring to protect her own mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find out who the mole is and remove Collette from a dangerous situation.

This movie is sparse on dialogue and, frankly, action, particularly at the beginning as we see Collette on what seems to be an endless train ride and finally dropping her purse. After that, things pick up. The cinematography is dreary, with Ireland looking like it's one step up from a trailer park in most scenes.

Andrea Riseborough, who can be beautiful and glamorous, is photographed harshly here, and she's excellent as a young woman caught in the nightmare of having to betray her brothers and answer to their trigger-happy leader Kevin (David Wilmot) and to Mac. She is natural and realistic in underplaying the role of a young Irish girl under incredible tension. Owen is good as the protective Mac, tough and persuasive.

The big problem is the lack of family connection, that is, Collette's relationship with her worried mother and her brothers, who are entrenched in a violent world. Shadow Dancer concentrates on the relationship between Mac and Collette, where showing more within the family would have brought us into the film more deeply.

We're led to believe certain things in "Shadow Dancer," and it's not until the end of the movie that we realize what a good script it was, and how well it is directed by James Marsh.

A sober movie showing the impact of violence and stress on one family.

This is director James Marsh's first fiction movie. He has hitherto been known as a great documentary maker, including last year's excellent Project Nim. In Shadow Dancer he has put together a film set during the Troubles period of Northern Ireland's history. In it a girl with IRA connections is coerced into becoming an informant for MI5. This leads to several compromising and dangerous situations. While the movie is set within a clear political situation, it isn't really a political film. The focus is specifically on the role of the informer in this powder keg context. At the time there were many people in similar situations and the movie tries to look at both the dangers that they found themselves in and the complex moral dilemmas that effected people on all sides of the conflict, both republicans and British intelligence. As such, Shadow Dancer is about people, as opposed to politics and it doesn't really make any subjective comment on rights and wrongs. It's clear that both sides of the fence act in sordid ways. The distrust amongst the high command on both sides is shown to be similar. Civil war is never a simple affair.

It's a well-acted and intelligently written film. It's low-key and pensive rather than a suspenseful thrill-ride. Perhaps it's a little too slow paced and sober for its own good at times but it does gather steam in the final third and things are wrapped up quite effectively by the end with a series of events that fall into place with tragic inevitability.

This film starts off at snails pace and doesn't pick up much. I wondered when anything interesting was going to happen. When it did, it was so stereotypical it was boring. The 'Belfast' accents were awful to the point that, as a local, I couldn't understand them at times. It was filmed in Dublin but might as well have been filmed in Dubai as the scenery and other aspects of the location was so obviously not Belfast or Northern Ireland. Gillian Anderson was quite wooden and seemed disinterested. I went to see this with high hopes but came away bitterly disappointed. As Belfast folk would say, It's wick. Give it a 'bye ball'.

In 1993, the IRA member Collette (Andrea Riseborough) is arrested in the London tube after leaving a bomb in the facility. MI-5 Agent Mac (Clive Owen) offers a deal to Collette to become an informer. She accepts the agreement to protect her son and in return Mac offers a new identity to her after a period working for the MI-5. Soon Mac learns that his superior Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson) is using Collette to protect her mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find the identity of the informer and protect Collette.

"Shadow Dancer" is a dramatic thriller developed in slow-pace with a good story and a confused screenplay. The situation of Collette is heartbreaking since she has to betray family and friends to protect her son. The performances are top-notch, but there are ellipsis (or cuts in the edition) that are confusing. For example, I did not understand why Collette kisses Mac. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Agente C – Dupla Identidade" ("Agent C – Double Identity")

Sound was so poor and ialogue muttered and accented with no sub titles, why is it that whispered conversations are not clear - its a film for heavens sake its not like the bad guys can hear you, but no director routinely let poor diction pass.

Based on my experience, the distributors may have committed a terrible misjudgement for they should have made this a film for TV rather than the cinema. There were 4 people in total when we went to watch the film and that was par for the course for the week apparently. The cinema manager suggested it would be pulled pretty quickly.

Such a shame, because it is a fine film, excellent when the scenes are based in Belfast, with ALL the actors who played the Irish parts absolutely first class. You felt you were in Belfast and the tension took you there. Location scenes good.

Less so the part played by Gillian Anderson. She was OK but a bit wooden. The MI5 scenes generally did not get off the ground until near the end when there was a great twist.

Clive Owen was the biggest enigma of the film. I am still not sure if he was OK, average or weak in the part he played. First impressions were could have been done better definitely, but the low-key interpretation may have had some merit. Owen just seemed to drift through it all and when he got angry it fell flat.

I would recommend anyone to go and watch this well-directed film. It is a good story from the writer which needs all the support it can get based on our experience of row after row of empty seats.

People tend to forget their history even that happened in their lifetime. Tragic truth be told.

Marsh has directed this IRA drama as a series of small gestures and has found in Riseborough an actress knowing how to do more with less. "Shadow Dancer" assumes a familiarity with history and politics of Northern Ireland keeps emotions so tight that it risks seeming inconsequential. The director overplays the symbolism, with Collette wearing a red coat when working for MI5 and a blue coat when back home. On the other hand, he can direct a funeral procession, with the Catholic mourners seething against a wall of British soldiers, so that the cobblestones feel primed to explode. In this world, death is constantly , all the time. As for love the story's so flinty and close-fisted that, ironically, it doesn't linger in the memory. Clive Owen perfect as usual and more at ease playing an English guy.

(2013) Shadow Dancer SUSPENSE THRILLER

The ending rose more questions than it gave answers. Based on a novel by Tom Bradby as it centers on the character, Collette played by Andrea Riseborough, which as a result of her past motivated her to become an underground IRA member. Upon planting a bomb near a busy subway, she's then caught for that act before given a choice by MI5 agent to either get arrested and charged for planting that bomb, or secretly act as an informant for British Intelligence. And because she also has a son, she chose the other possible option. All I can say is that the ending killed the credibility of the entire movie since Collette can still be charged for planting that first bomb on the subway since there's no reason now to not connect her tot hat incident and tat the same time continue to employ her as an informant. They can also connect her to other IRA attacks as well since she still has a file. Also, the credibility is also killed is when as soon as a job is done, that IRA members would then involve that very same person to perform another attack as well instead of finding a new bloke. The odds of that happening is highly unlikely, since Collette's identity was already plastered all over the news.

Shadow Dancer follows an Irish woman, who has a son. She works for the IRA in the 1990's. When she gets caught attempting to place a bomb on a London subway she must become an informant for the MI5.

Interesting story. I really had no clue about this film, I was just bored and looking for a film to watch. So you can guess I have never read the book so I do not know how closely it follows it. However the author did write the screenplay. Anyway, I thought the film itself was OK. In general, everything felt like it was neutral/ on the line. Nothing really stuck out and there was no real memorable scenes. The film also seemed very slow and dragged out.

The acting from everyone involved was good. Nothing special, but nothing terrible. However, my main complaint would have to be the characters. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, especially the protagonist , which is the main thing really. I felt the IRA characters were too clichéd and just the same generic IRA men as in every other film with IRA men in them.

Overall, the film did not impress me. However, I wasn't expecting anything special so I suppose it balances it out. I'd give it a solid 6/10. But, gun to my head - would I recommend it? - No. Probably not.

Set during the start of the 90s Irish peace process, an active member of the IRA is forced to become an informant for the MI5 after they use her young son as bait. She moves back home to Belfast and reimmerses herself into the world of violence and terrorism, all the while worried for her – and her son's – safety, in case she gets found out.

Movies about the IRA, and The Troubles in general, always interest me. I think it's because that whole period is based in a country so close to me, about a time so close to me, that it resonates. So I was quite pleased when 'Shadow Dancer' arrived on my desk. And, for the most, I was quite impressed by this British movie.

Problem is that it's not the actual story I was impressed by. It's not bad, to be fair of it. This is set at a time when the Troubles were coming to an end, so the portrayal of how this causes fractions in an Irish family is an intelligent and somewhat fresh one. However, despite the very good actors playing the family (Riseborough, Gillen, Gleeson, Brennan), I just never feel emotionally attached to them. The ending is a very powerful one, but it's more the visceral impact than the emotional one which stuck with me.

What actually impressed me was Andrea Riseborough's performance. As she demonstrated in Madonna's 'W.E.', Riseborough has the ability to be brilliant in average films. Okay, 'Shadow Dancer' is a bit better than average, but she was so much better than the film deserved. From her very first scene, where the camera follows her along a train journey, the silence of it all permeated by a very expressive face, she commands the show. Clive Owen tries hard to keep up and, while he's also very good, he's no match for her. Everyone else has too undeveloped a role to really get invested in, which is a shame.

'Shadow Dancer' is a great movie for those of you who love meaty characters, power shifts and twists and turns. The execution isn't perfect, but this film has all of that. But why you should really want to watch this is if you like seeing a powerhouse performance from one of the best British actresses of recent times.

Collette (Andrea Riseborough) grew up with the Troubles in Belfast. In 1993, she plants a bomb in the London tube and gets caught. MI5 operative Mac (Clive Owen) gets the single mom to turn. She reluctantly gives Mac some intel and MI5 stage an ambush. The IRA is suspicious and Collette could be in danger. Meanwhile, Mac's boss Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson) seems to have her own agenda. Also the burgeoning peace plan is dividing the republicans.

This movie is very low key and slow paced. Also I haven't noticed Andrea Riseborough in her other works. She seems to be very plain and plays her character very close to the vest. The emotions come out only in a couple of scenes. It all gives this movie a sense of realism. However the slow pace does take its toll. The tension is on a slow boil for most of the movie. The suspense is limited because there is no mystery here. There is a big twist in the end but the story generally lays out everything. The only thing left is a character study. Riseborough seems to be a good actress, and it's a functional movie on that basis.

MI5 Agent Mac (Clive Owen) gives Collette (Andrea Riseborough) a choice: go to prison and lose her son for planting a bomb on English soil or become his informer to take down members of the IRA. She accepts to protect her son, but Mac soon discovers his superior, Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson), is also using Collette to protect "her" informer within the IRA. Mac needs to find the identity of that informer.

I like Clive Owen movies, but this one was not ready to come to the gate. When the movie ends there are questions that should have been answered within. Didn't happen. We didn't get an inkling that there was a love relationship between Mac and Collette, yet she spontaneously kisses him at one point and nothing happens thereafter. Why did she do that? How did the IRA know that Kate's informer was the mole who they killed? We had no clue to that. Were some scenes cut that we never saw? The surprise ending regarding Mac made absolutely no sense. Again, perhaps some scenes were cut? Huh?

I believe directors have a responsibility to allow the audience to hear what is being said. When English and Irish accents are involved the men have a great tendency to talk into their chests, talk so fast the road-runner couldn't keep up, whisper in conspiratorial tones that rewinding the DVD many times just exercises the wrist. This doesn't happen with the women actors. We can hear them fine.

The movie centered too much on Collette and that led me to believe that Mac was second fiddle in here. He had no control over anything. And, the contentious relationship with Kate, his boss, didn't help matters. James Bond wouldn't allow things to get this out of control (you really wanted Clive Owen to be the next James Bond, didn't you?) When our hero (Mac) loses control, we don't know what to expect anymore. See?

This movie should have been wrapped in suspense and tension but, they were not in evidence.

The best part of the movie was the first 20-minutes. After that it all ran downhill with Collette's side of things. Yes, Andrea Riseborough, as Collette, performed well, but we went to see a Clive Owen movie. Oh, he also performed well, as usual, but his Mac lost control.

I like going to Clive Owen movies. I hope the next one is better. (3/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Torture: Yes. Language: Yes, mostly in the beginning.

OK, basically this is the worst movie I've seen ever, or at least I cannot remember any other movie to come even close to being as bad as this. I would actually rather watch 200 old nuns running a marathon with walkers than to watch this.

The movie could as well have been a silent movie form a time gone by, I literally had to sit and pray for someone to say something to at least keep me awake trough this torture of the human mind. And the plot, or if you even can call it a plot has to have been written by a valium addict that had been chained in the basement of a museum for 10 years. I cannot, and I repeat, I cannot understand how it is even possible to a. make a movie that mentally kills you and b. get funding to produce it.

This movie has to be a practical joke from some movie big-wigs that decided to have fun with us in some kind of a bizarre kinky way.

I urge everyone to not spend your hard earned cash on this junk. I promise that you will have more fun if you read the phone book backwards from z to a.

With films like In The Name of the Father, Michael Collins, and Hunger, you really have to have a great film about the IRA to get attention. This film not only succeeds as a film that belongs with the others mentioned, but it is really an impressive film.

The lighting, scenery, costumes and photography, and background music all contribute to the film in a way that one expects of a great film about Britain in the 90s.

Andrea Riseborough (Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley), Domhnall Gleeson (Anna Karenina), David Wilmot (Intermission), and Brid Brennan (Dancing at Lughnasa) gave notable performances allowing us to really feel the personal dilemmas and betrayal they experienced.

Good espionage films tend to keep my interest, and this was edge-of-the- seat action.

The film starts excellently by 25 minutes of high level, with surgical, captivating scenes that are the opening scene in Belfast, the subway scene in London and the interrogation. At this moment, one is thinking this might be a great movie.

Unfortunately, the rest is less glorious because the script runs out of steam quite violently and turns to an ultra conventional thriller relying on predictable developments. The rhythm falls simultaneously with the interest for this more than classical plot. The movie therefore ends linearly by a not so surprising unfolding.

Too bad because the beginning was very good and the quality of the mise-en-scène, the cinematography and the cast augured a much more singular movie, despite a theme — the Troubles — already largely depicted.