Movie: Four Lions

R

RomaVicta

5,000+ Posts
Saw Four Lions today at the Alamo Drafthouse South. Wow.

Black comedy about a handful of would-be mujahadeen living in England. They argue about what they will strike and how. They're largely idiots, but their idiocy is universal. Idiot World has not been so well portrayed since Doctor Strangelove although this is a much smaller scale, indy-type film.

The movie brilliantly contains comedy, sadness, real feeling and farce. I wouldn't have thought it could be done.
 
I saw a preview yesterday prior to the movie The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and it looked funny as hell. I will definitely see it. I did like the crow-bomb.
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I read that the movie was done well, but it is a little hard to get over the odd concept of funny terrorists. Maybe I should check it out.
 
That is an obstacle to marketing the film, but I think you'll be glad you went if you see it. I walked in to the theater wondering how they could pull this off, but they did. I laughed quite hard a couple of scenes. And amid the absurd comedy, I found myself caring about these clowns.
 
Looked funny to me from the trailers, which isn't true of most comedies. Any protests by the PC Police accusing the studio of racism yet?
 
I, too, wonder what the response will be to the descriptions of the movie and the trailer (I haven't seen it). It would be easy to presume the movie is bashing Muslims, but it's really not. Or, at least, I don't think it is.

You actually care about these misguided men as they bumble their way through the movie and towards their objective. Interesting mix of sympathy, empathy and black comedy. I was reminded of Life of Brian while watching it.

I hope the movie gets seen instead of just scorned without being seen. I'd be interested to hear Muslim reaction.

Somebody see it. I'd like to read comments.
 
I was raised Muslim and the rest of my family is still devoutly Muslim (me, not so much). I saw this movie a few weeks ago and loved it and have no doubt that fans of smart comedy (Muslim or not) would feel the same.

A bumbling comedic piece like this shines a light on the complexity of Muslims living in the West in a way that I haven't seen in the recent post-9/11 crop of dramatic "terrorism" movies. The movie shows the four guys as being caught between two worlds; just Pakistani enough to not be considered "British" and way too British to be considered "Pakistani".
 
I saw it last night. Pretty good, although I had a little problem with the thick accents.


SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!






































That first bomb death in the field with the sheep was pretty shocking.

Also, I found the comfortableness the wife showed toward her husband's intent quite unsettling. And that scene in the family dining room, with the protagonist, son and wife quietly disturbing. I guess that was the filmmaker's intent.

I enjoyed the irony of the final bombing at the chemist, but it was just so coldly done. I think most in the audience was rooting for him not to make that choice. The theater was pretty quiet after that final act.
 
I saw it last night, and I'm on board with folks who are amazed at how the director kept the tone just right. When you're doing a comedy THIS dark, it's gotta be really tough to make it as funny as it was and also disturbing and moving as it was.

Anyone who is able to go see it without already having made up their mind about how they will feel about it is going to enjoy it, I think.
 
The movie is now on netflix instant for those interested.

A very interesting movie that deserves to be seen. I echo the comments above in that the moviemakers did a masterful job with the subject and characters. Satire was aimed at all targets from terrorism, fundamental muslims, british police and the human condition.

I think this is an important film. It should be seen by muslims and non-muslims alike. It is not blazing saddles, but as important as blazing saddles was in changing attitudes of the anglo-mainstream population, this movie has a chance to have a similar effect.
 
So glad to see this popping up again. It was one of the best films I saw last year. Maybe it will get a life in DVD world.
 
We've seen so many good films on Netflix that we discovered through word of mouth (like this thread) or just browsing through the Watch Instantly offerings and taking a chance with something. It just reminds me how many quality films are out there that will never have much promotion, but if you explore a bit there's some wonderful stuff to be discovered.

If Netflix doubled their prices tomorrow I wouldn't even blink. To me it's ridiculously cheap for what we get out of it.
 
I was lamenting the narrow selection at Blockbuster for years. When Netflix found a way to maintain a library of thousands of titles, I wanted to join just to support such a great idea.

I've seen a lot of TV/Cable series using Netflix. Hornfans pointed me to The Wire and Deadwood. I wouldn't have given either a second thought without the high praise from here. Great shows that I could watch at my own pace.
 
Definitely a 4-star movie for me (5-star being "I could watch this movie 20 times (e.g., Shawshank Redemption)."). Laughing at parts then thinking, "I shouldn't be laughing at this." Last movie like that for me was Pulp Fiction.
 
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