Film Review: ROUTE IRISH (2010)

Director: Ken Loach
Running time: 110 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/War
USA Release date: 18^th March 2011

Watched on Sky+ Monday 24^th October 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I have been a bit of a fan of the work of Ken Loach for a while now, ever since I saw Kes (made in 1969, but I saw it much later) and more recently Looking for Eric (2009). This one, although still good, failed to quite hit the mark (for me). There were several aspects of it that seemed incomplete. I’ll tell you more after this very brief summary.

Whilst working for a security firm in Iraq, in 2007, Frankie is killed. His best friend, Fergus, is devastated and feels there is something not quite right about the circumstances of his death. A former mercenary himself, he begins his own investigation. Enlisting the help of Frankie’s widow, Rachel, and an Iraqi musician, Harim, he begins to piece together the events leading up to Frankie’s death. I won’t say any more or the Spoiler Police will be shooting at that taxi I’ll be taking home on Thursday night. Oh, I should also mention, just for completeness, that ‘Route Irish’ is the code name used for the route between Baghdad Airport and the Green Zone.

Set in Liverpool and with an extremely gritty edge to it, there are no punches pulled in this realistic drama. Of course budget constraints mean most of the action has to take place in the UK, but there is a fair bit of archive footage of events in Iraq at the time to fill the gap. Be warned though, some of it is quite graphic. As far as performances go, well, both Mark Womack as Fergus and Andrea Lowe as Rachel were excellent. A lot of the dialogue is ad-libbed and I thought they both did an excellent job! John Bishop, better known as a comedian here in the UK, plays Frankie (in flashback) and he did a pretty good job too. I thought Talib Rasool as Harim was very good as well.

Over all, it just failed to hit the mark. I think I found the ending a bit of a let-down but sadly I cannot talk about it here. It did have its good points though and I did find it quite enthralling up to a point, but it was a little too long for me. It’s a shame because I really wanted to like this one, but then you can’t have everything I suppose. I will still deem it worthy of a viewing, but be warned of a lot of swearing and some graphic content.

My Score: 6.4/10.

IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 1,051 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1528312/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73/100 (based on 26 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/route_irish/

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LINKS:
Trailer:

Film Review: LOOKING FOR ERIC (2009)

Director: Ken Loach
Running time: 116 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

UK release date: 12th June 2009

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 16th October 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Ken Loach is an acclaimed British director who is well known for his gritty ‘kitchen sink’ dramas. This is a bit of a departure in that it’s a comedy, well, more like a drama with some comedy included. First of all, for my American readers, when I refer to football, I’m talking about what you guys call soccer, hope that’s clear. So, Eric Bishop is a postman who is down on his luck. He has been a fan of Manchester United all of his life and his favourite player was Frenchman Eric Cantona.

When Eric Bishop has a breakdown he is taken to hospital. His friend, Meatballs, picks him up the following day and takes him home. There he finds his two stepsons, Ryan and Jess, both lazing about and up to no good as usual. After a meeting with some friends where they talk about self awareness he begins to believe he sees his footballing hero, Eric Cantona. As time goes on, this apparition teaches him how to make his life better, and even how he might win back his first wife Lily, who he is still in love with. Through looking after his granddaughter, baby Molly, Eric discovers he can actually talk to Lily. He tells her about how he was feeling when they split up and they begin to grow a bit closer. Things seem to be going well when Ryan falls in with the wrong crowd and ends up hiding a very hot firearm. Eric tries to plead with the bad guys but they’ll have none of it. What can he do?... Cantona may have the answer.

I should point out that yes, I am a football fan, but no I’m not a fan of Manchester United, or Eric Cantona. I admired him as a player but he always came over as a bit too arrogant for me. Having said that, I really enjoyed this film! I could relate to the troubles Eric Bishop was having and I thought the ending was great! Any film that leaves me with a smile on my face can’t be too bad! Great performances all round, especially from Steve Evets as Eric Bishop, he really nailed the part! I also thought that Stephanie Bishop as Lily and Gerard Kearns as Ryan were both very good. Honourable mentions must go to Stefan Gumbs as Jess, Lucy-Jo Hudson as Sam, John Henshaw as Meatballs, Justin Moorhouse as Spleen and of course, Eric Cantona as himself.

Although it lost a bit of momentum in the middle, I felt it was a pretty well made film with a lot of realism in both the dialogue and the visuals. I have been to Manchester and parts of it really are like that! I found some of Eric Cantona’s dialogue was a little indistinct, which did detract from my enjoyment slightly, but they made up for it with some great footage of his goals. Over all, I found it a very enjoyable film with some great comic moments but also some gritty realism. Recommended.

My score: 8.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1242545/
Official Site: http://www.iconmovies.co.uk/lookingforeric/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3450275609/