3 stars (out of 5)
Director: Christopher Morris
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Darren Boyd, Riz Ahmed, Preeya Kalidas, Alex MacQueen
Rating: (R16)
In light of recent revelations concerning the British terror attacks of 2005, Christopher Morris' latest satire, Four Lions, is a dig at the absurdity of fringe radical groups.
Reportedly wanting to do for Islamic terrorism what Dad's Army did for the Nazis, Morris cobbled together a plot based on four imbeciles from Sheffield with a goal to stage a terror attack - which actually reads better on paper than it comes across on film.
That doesn't mean it's not funny, far from it. Four Lions is chock full of belly aching moments, but once the joke is established, the film struggles to know what to do next.
Shot in the quasi-docudrama-style of The Office and In the Loop, the film sets up a scenario where a group of young Muslim men, and a recent convert, conspire to become suicide bombers.
When thinking about the culprits responsible for the 52 deaths in London, it's hard to imagine them bearing any resemblance to the colourful caricatures that Morris has drafted.
From their early efforts to record suicide video-notes, a brilliant sequence at a Pakistani terrorist training camp to using crows to carry bombs, nothing the hapless group does happens without utter chaos.
But ultimately, the most shocking thing is not the fact that the writers send up something as disturbing as suicide-bombers, it's the fact that they don't push the envelope far enough.
Caught somewhere between cheap slapstick laughs and sensitive issues of race and displacement, is the nugget of a great idea that fails to leave a lasting impression.
Best thing: Barry the supercilious Caucasian convert.
Worst thing: The reality that halfwits armed with primitive explosives and nutty ideology could cause carnage.
See it with: Anyone not easily offended by self-deprecating satire.
- Mark Orton
