An un-funny implementation of a brilliant idea.
I’d expected to love-love-love this film considering all the buzz out of Sundance. Not that Sundance is a reliable precursor to either box office success or wider audiences’ embrace. But while I’m absolutely, head-over-heels in admiration of the concept behind it, the clueless goons in the satire FOUR LIONS did little more than annoy and ultimately depress me as opposed to amuse and enlighten.
In a British city, four idiots declare jihad out of boredom and a need to prove their manhood. Omar (Riz Ahmed), the group’s leader and the only one with a semblance of brain function, wants to avenge the treatment of Muslims worldwide. White Islamic convert Barry (played by Nigel Lindsay and I thought in possession of the most comic potential) bursts into constant fits of contrarian rage. Waj (Kayvan Novak), who seems borderline mentally retarded, unquestioningly follows anything and everything put before him. And Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) is attempting to train crows to fly bombs through windows. (This too could have been funny, but instead is merely sad.) Together this losing team fumbles in slapstick fashion through devising and executing a mission of death and destruction at a local marathon.
We tend to view terrorists, an ambiguous term in itself, as fearsome individuals, steely-eyed and unafraid. These men at least do us the favor of making us consider the possibility that some such individuals aren’t that at all. Perhaps some merely desire recognition. Or for that matter are genuinely ignorant of any specific reasons for pursuing such bloody goals. It’s actually not that hard to imagine.
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