A lot of commentators have criticised this film for not being an accurate portrayal of the situation and/or intricacies of the situation in Northern Ireland. I'm no expert and it goes without saying that this is probably the case; but that's not the point of this film and I don't think the director was really trying to say too much about it.
The film is about the two main characters played by Pitt and Ford, both introduced in black and white and both of whose lifetime ideals and principles are challenged and blurred by their experiences through the film.
We have Pitt, the hardened terrorist whose own father was murdered in front of him when he was a child, who's known nothing but hatred and a distrust of authority through his life and who's suddenly immersed into an alien environment of stability, family and a cop who he sees is both a pretty normal, hardworking and good guy. In this different environment he realises that there's more to life then what he's known and Ford becomes to him something of a father figure.
At the same time, Ford a principled, honest as the day is long cop finds himself having to compromise his own integrity in the name of friendship and loyalty to a colleague as he realises life isn't quite so black and white as he's always lived it and struggles to deal with his own indiscretion.
Consequently as he finds out more about Pitt he struggles to juggle his professional and personal judgement as he finds a degree of sympathy towards Pitt trying to understand his background and the inevitability of his circumstances. Naturally the two come to a head and in this regard the film is pretty good despite any shortcomings with regards to the accuracy of the Northern Ireland situation.
Some of the film certainly appears a little far fetched in places and I'd suspect that it's not so easy to purchase a batch of Stinger missiles from the local small time mobster while the fate of Pitt's sidekick seemed little more than pointless. Sure this might not be award winning stuff, but I don't know why Pitt disowned this film and hope it wasn't done out of political correctness or being overly-sensitive to criticism (I'll settle for death threats).
Enjoyable and entertaining thriller/action film that doesn't over do the action.
The film is about the two main characters played by Pitt and Ford, both introduced in black and white and both of whose lifetime ideals and principles are challenged and blurred by their experiences through the film.
We have Pitt, the hardened terrorist whose own father was murdered in front of him when he was a child, who's known nothing but hatred and a distrust of authority through his life and who's suddenly immersed into an alien environment of stability, family and a cop who he sees is both a pretty normal, hardworking and good guy. In this different environment he realises that there's more to life then what he's known and Ford becomes to him something of a father figure.
At the same time, Ford a principled, honest as the day is long cop finds himself having to compromise his own integrity in the name of friendship and loyalty to a colleague as he realises life isn't quite so black and white as he's always lived it and struggles to deal with his own indiscretion.
Consequently as he finds out more about Pitt he struggles to juggle his professional and personal judgement as he finds a degree of sympathy towards Pitt trying to understand his background and the inevitability of his circumstances. Naturally the two come to a head and in this regard the film is pretty good despite any shortcomings with regards to the accuracy of the Northern Ireland situation.
Some of the film certainly appears a little far fetched in places and I'd suspect that it's not so easy to purchase a batch of Stinger missiles from the local small time mobster while the fate of Pitt's sidekick seemed little more than pointless. Sure this might not be award winning stuff, but I don't know why Pitt disowned this film and hope it wasn't done out of political correctness or being overly-sensitive to criticism (I'll settle for death threats).
Enjoyable and entertaining thriller/action film that doesn't over do the action.