toberwino

I felt this was a film about N Ireland made for audiences outside N Ireland. As with many films portraying my home country, most of the accents made me cringe. Also, the effect of a burning car or bus at the end of ever street was overdone. As for the pints of Guinness served like pints of bitter ..... Life was bad during the troubles, but not that bad. The film didn't gloss over the life of a squaddie, being required to do things and be places they probably had no understanding of. The quote about army life, which seems to be used in most media discussions, "the rich telling the stupid to shoot the poor" sums it up well. The portrayal of the role of special ops and their relationship with all sides in the conflict would probably be educational for those with a limited knowledge of N Ireland's history over the past 40 years. I'm glad I saw this movie but I have little inclination to watch it again.

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'.

I had heard a lot about this film so was really looking forward to seeing it. I watched it in the company of my wife and her sister and at the end all three of us felt the same about it as my review below. I found it a huge disappointment - it trundled along at a slow pace and I kept waiting for something to happen which would be thrilling or suspenseful etc - typically Hitchcock. I am still waiting. I kept wondering, if someone is a professional photographer with a massive telephoto lens at his disposal, why did he not take any photographs. Isn't that what voyeurs do? Also, could someone tell me the purpose of the back massages - I am no masseuse but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to them. This movie was a horrible waste of my time.