soundsofdenihilism

This movie isnt for everyone, but it checks a lot of boxes. I'm glad I went into this with no expectations.

There are some role reversals and clever commentary on the genre as a whole. The acting is bad, then good, then great. The film isn't scary but it IS creepy. Despite the cliches I still got adrenaline pumping in some of the scenes.

The director knew how to hold a shot. It's funny in a tongue in cheek way, but never so offensive that it takes you out of the movie.

The lighting is good and the set is simple but effective. Costumes were a bit on the weak end but they get the job done. As far as I can tell little to no CGI was used which is refreshing.

Plot sometimes dragged but eventually reached a crescendo where. I never got bored.

If you are on the fence, just watch it.

Imagine deciding to create a historical film about The Troubles, then cast a black man as the lead role, and not have his race be relevant to the plot. At the time the film takes place there were almost no black people living in England whatsoever and yet he is handpicked to be a secret agent meant to infiltrate/surprise IRA groups in plain clothes operations. What? His race would surely be brought up more but the characters in the film just treat him as if it's perfectly normal and there's no discrimination or lack of trust among his peers whatsoever.

The ONLY time his race is brought up is when his girlfriend verbatim states "Youre a black man living in a white man's world". Such an awful line that is is never elaborated upon or supported through things in the film.

If they were going to cast him for this and have racism or some sort of outsider/immigration theme to draw on then it would be totally fine, but as it's written it just feels extremely out of place and for a historical film detracts from the story too much to take it seriously.