Four Lions *½
In case you don’t know already, Chris Morris is the writer and producer of several British comedy shows, his most famous being Brass Eye and The Day Today, two shows that were on the very edge of boundary pushing, successfully parodying the way in which news is reported by the media, with the latter show earning him the most controversy (and front page headlines) for its now infamous paedophile special. If you have seen either of these shows then you will know that Morris’ brand of humour will be taken very differently by different people – to some these shows were considered tasteless and highly offensive, to others they were considered to be hilarious works of comic genius. And now, with his directorial feature, Four Lions, you would no doubt expect the same kind of response, particularly considering that it is a comedy following the lives of a small group of would be suicide bombers, the very subject of the film being one that sounds as in bad taste as you could possibly get and that taken so lightly would surely cause huge outrage. Surprisingly, however, this is not really the case.
Angered by the treatment of Muslims around the world, Omar (Riz Ahmed) is determined to take drastic action by becoming a soldier in the global Jihad. Joining him are the easily-led Waj (Kayvan Novak), the not so easily-led Barry (Nigel Lindsay), a white Islamic convert with a grudge against the world and a nihilistic streak and the not entirely interested Hassan (Arsher Ali). Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) is the odd man out, as he does actually have the skills necessary to make a bomb. Unfortunately, blowing himself up is something he is not too keen on and, instead, he’s training crows to fly bombs through windows. This is what Omar has to deal with as he plots to strike a decisive blow on British soil. But will any of this unlikely terrorist crew ever do anything right?
Many will no doubt be apprehensive about seeing Four Lions. After all, the subject matter is a very sensitive and not especially appealing one and in real life suicide bombers are definitely no laughing matter. And, depending on you personal taste in humour, they may not be here either. While this film isn’t as tasteless or offensive as you might expect, the humour is definitely of the variety that will divide viewers – some, particularly those who appreciate Chris Morris’ past works, may find it hilarious; others will find it almost entirely unfunny. This critic (as, apparently, were the other members of the audience at the screening I attended) is in the latter camp, having sat through the film mostly without laughing, aside from a titter or two raised by a few physical gags, in particular a gag involving the misfiring of a bazooka, and another scene where a couple of police snipers debate whether the Honey Monster or a Wookie count as a bear. The rest of the humour, dialogue driven and based around the banter between the characters, didn’t amuse this critic much at all but this definitely won’t be true of everyone – some in fact will find this film quite hilarious. In addition to a lack of laughs (in this critic’s opinion at least) the film also suffers from the inherent nature of the characters. For obvious reasons we cannot fully sympathise or empathise with the individuals portrayed here and the fact that they are presented as bumbling buffoons and are well performed by the film’s cast is not quite enough to overcome this fatal flaw at the heart of the film, although the portrayal of the characters as everyday individuals, who have lives complete with families and jobs (reflecting suicide bombers in real life), does at least highlight the issue that even the least likely of people can be terrorists and makes the chraracters more than just suicide bombers, rather real people who have decided to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs something which could be considered almost noble in some ways. Also, while Morris does make some observations here and there and plays on the manner in which Islamophobia has become a strong force within our society, the film as a whole is not as insightful as it could be, meaning that the story is somewhat lacking in deeper subtexts. So, Four Lions is a film that, while highlighting some significant points, left this critic largely unimpressed even though some will undoubtedly think very differently. One final note – given that this film is essentially laughing at (rather than with) its would be terrorist characters, the question has to be asked – is making fun of terrorists really a good idea?
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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)
© BRWC 2010.
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Owain Paciuszko 26th May 2010
Sigh…
Clearly this review is weighted in the ‘I didn’t like it, I understand others will’ camp, but I really don’t feel like you’ve elaborated exactly why you didn’t like it, beyond the notion of ‘like’ vs. ‘dislike’. Furthermore, I cannot see at all how you can deem this film worthy of 1 solitary star, when risible shite like ‘Tooth Fairy’ gets 1 and a half.
Obviously, as you have stated, tastes differ, but I find it wholly depressing to read this and then have a gander at the review for, say, ‘Clash of the Titans’ or ‘The Last Song’.
Poor ‘Four Lions’, maybe if it was in 3D it would’ve got an extra point.
q 27th May 2010
Four Lions was awesome!
You havent a clue mate
robert_bond75 27th May 2010
My reasons for disliking ‘Four Lions’ were simply thus – I didn’t find it funny and – partly due to having Aspergers Syndrome – I am unable to fully appreciate what others find funny. The fact that no one else in the screening I was at was laughing – something I forgot to mention in my review, my bad, I’ve been stressed out with university work and forgetting things quite a lot – did make me think that others might not find it funny. Of course, I realised that this was a love it or hate it film and acknowledged this in my review.
And no, I would not have given it an extra point for 3D. While I do believe that in the case of action blockbusters and animated films, etc. 3D can add to the experience (if done well at least), here it would have been pointless and would more likely have detracted from the experience. As for ‘Clash of the Titans’, as i stated in my review I was only able to see the 2D version of the film – my cinema only had one 3D screen at the time which was being devoted to ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ – and that the extra half star was assumed based on the added quality of 3D in other similar films. I have since heard from many people that the 3D more likely detracted from the film so I might revise the rating to reflect this.
As for ‘Tooth Fairy’, the key reason I gave it one and a half stars was that the young kids in the screening I was at did seem to enjoy it quite a bit and they are the target audience after all. Conversely the lack of laughter from the audience for ‘Four Lions’ in the screening I was at led me to believe that perhaps some may well agree with my assessment of the film. This is the problem with comedy – even more so of the difficulties I have with Aspergers – comedy is subjective. What one person finds funny another person won’t and as with the response of many different critics to many different comedies demonstrates, any comedy will be loved by some and hated by others.
Personally, I feel that I did explain why I didn’t like the film. I simply didn’t find it funny and, given the nature of the characters, I couldn’t care about any of the ‘protagonists’ – if I had been able to care about them maybe it would have been a different story.
Robert Mann
Owain Paciuszko 27th May 2010
I understand, with all people, that what one person finds funny another doesn’t, but, your two key factors of dislike are (1) It wasn’t funny, ok, we can’t continue down that road… it’s subjective. (2) You summarise in the statement ‘given the nature of the characters’, which I can’t fully understand, unless you are absolutely totally boxing them in as nothing more than ‘suicide bombers’ and the film goes to some lengths with the characters of Omar, Waj, Barry, Omar’s devout brother, his wife and child, to bring much more to the story than just being ‘suicide bombers’, indeed, there is plenty of emotional and thought to be found in the scenes of Omar’s home life, and, the film’s finale I found to be a strange mixture of a certain confused poignancy. Waj’s character inparticular personifies a certain faith with a guide, naturally, played ‘dopey’ for laughs, but the scene where Omar and Waj are discussing following his heart and his head, is funny and somewhat heart-breaking.
Anyway, I could go on, and I understand that the protagonists aren’t as sympathetic as someone who is going out to commit heroic deeds, but I think to just dismiss them as being totally unsympathetic due to their ‘nature’ aka their suicide bombing plan is to miss something of the film’s depth.
Furthermore awarding a film like ‘Tooth Faiy’ an extra point because kids in the screening seemed to enjoy is also baffling, how do you know that the people at the screening of ‘Four Lions’ were its ‘target audience’? Also, how do you know you weren’t in a cinema full of people who laugh silently?!
I’m not trying to get you to change your mind on ‘Four Lions’, I just think 1 star is excessively harsh, for a film that shows intelligence and insight and film-making skill beyond whether or not it’s funny.
robert_bond75 27th May 2010
For the record I’ve revised the rating for ‘Tooth Fairy’ to one star as in retrospect one and a half stars was a bit too generous.
robert_bond75 27th May 2010
Also, see revised version of ‘Four Lions’ review above.
Robert Mann