THE GENERAL (18)
D: John Boorman
Warner Bros/Merlin/J&M (John Boorman)
UK/Irelandย ๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฎ๐ชย 1998
124 mins
Crime/Biopic
W: John Boorman
DP: Seamus Deasy
Ed: Ron Davis
Mus: Richie Buckley
Brendan Gleeson (Martin Cahill), Adrian Dunbar (Noel
Curley), Sean McGinley (Gary), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Frances), Angeline Ball (Tina)
The General is a biographical crime drama focusing on the life
of Martin Cahill, an Irish criminal who pulled off a string of heists throughout the 1980's, becoming a contemporary Robin Hood-type figure on the Emerald Isle, attracting the attentions of the
IRA and similar politically-motivated factions.
Brendan Gleeson delivers an excellent performance in the lead,
whilst John Boorman's black and white approach gives the material a lot of gritty realism.ย
Ultimately, it's a very bleak piece of filmmaking, but the
excellent lead performance and execution of the story make it eminently watchable.
The 2000 film Ordinary Decent Criminal was also intended to
have Martin Cahill as its principal focus, but names were changed to differentiate it from this film.
7/10