A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
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Reviews
Nice effects though.
A Masterpiece!
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Shot mostly in Northern England but depicting Belfast in the year 1971, during the Northern Ireland conflicts. Directed by Yann Demange, have a big cast led by English actor Jack O'Connell.A British soldier, Gary Hook, left in the streets of Belfast after separated from his unit during a riot struggle to find his way back to safety.It is a decent movie, where we can clearly see the three acts structure, simple and straight to the point and the best word I can find to describe it is "Solid". However, its pros is the same as its cons, and its simplicity make the movie not remarkable.The acting is solid as well, nothing over the top as we see in "give me the Oscar" performances, but still good. We can name Jack O'Connell, Barry Keoghan, Sean Harris, Richard Dormer and Charlie Murphy (not the comedian, R.I.P).I was disappointed we could not see more of Valene Kane, who plays a rioter... and that's it, she gets slapped in the face I guess.(Post originally: https://ulvenreviews.blogspot.com.br/2018/02/71-2014-movie-review.html)
I'm kinda split on this movie. I saw it a few years ago when it first came out.Much like a B-level movie, there's a lot of camera-work and what-not that distracts you. It doesn't really seem to connect with me for some reason. The story I found difficult to follow also. It kinda reminds me of Dawn of the Dead in that it seems there are continuity goofs and mistakes.In simple terms, this is a survival movie. That said, there are several parts that I found to be impactful. There is a scene where the British soldier, running away through a hostile section of Belfast, ends up at a pub with a small Protestant child who served as his guide, and his parents and other relatives are above the pub assembling a bomb. The soldier is in the pub when the bomb accidentally goes off outside, killing the child. Honestly, after a while I lost track of the movie due to boredom as it is very long. The pace also isn't consistent. Needless to say, there is a long-term antagonist that has been following the protagonist from early on in the movie. He isn't the one who initiated the survival run (it was a woman who disguised as a mother, plants a grenade on a group of soldiers, one of which is the protagonist, and makes it look like they are the bad guys, setting off a mob action on the soldiers). Rent if you wish, but only if you're dying of boredom.
This movie manages to be thrilling throughout as the character tries to survive the Troubles. However, the last 20 minutes or so unnecessarily overcomplicates the plot with contrived twists. Also, a more minor flaw, but the characters could've been developed a bit more.I appreciate the realism in many of the parts of the movie, such as the inept bomb handler. Handling bombs isn't always easy.+ Thrilling+ Realism to itFlawed plot in last 20 minutesCharacters could be a little betterI can't give it the best rating, so I'll give it a 7.
It's war. So what is good for? Well the movie is good for something, in showing different aspects of it. Though some would not be in favor of the term war at all. But the conflict there was (and still is in some heads), is really thrilling and (unfortunately) is based on real life events, which make the movie even more relevant.While apparently all is allowed (not that much love to be found here though), there are things some viewers will have issues with. Not going into details, this is gripping from start to finish and has a story that seems to have been made for the big screen. Pure drama, that also has some nice action along with it. But it's the human story that it's really about