Shadow Dancer

source: Shadow Dancer

This film was quite satisfying and featured some solid performances, from the leading pair especially. It wasn't partisan as films of this genre can be, but as others have said, the limitations of budget and time meant that many avenues were not explored to a conclusion. The format and story would lend themselves to a 3 part TV movie quite well, as the characters had depth and I felt an affinity with all parties. I'm glad, though, that Hollywood and big budgets/names didn't run this, as the sheer mundane elements of this life were played out more than the glamorous action set pieces. It kept moving quite well, and if anything the scenes rattled past quicker than I'd have liked, but it was a good story, well told, a tense finale and nicely put together. Very watchable.

Clive Owen is an MI5 stooge who instantly turns a Belfast bomb-dropper-offer woman into an informer, in spite of saying, 'This is going to take some time'. And yes, we get it: Belfast in the troubles (which aren't over btw) is as bleak as it gets. Those IRA guys just want everyone to be as miserable as they are, it seems. Now, introduce hundreds of indistinguishable miserable characters without names or any particular reason to exist other than it's a 'political' film, yeah? A few vignettes of IRA funerals and suchlike, just to lighten the mood. Forget to show the heroine for half an hour, and focus on Clive Owen's double chin. Fast forward ninety minutes. Still awake? Suddenly, Clive and his informer kiss. Fast forward thirty more minutes. then she arranges for his car to be booby trapped even though he offered to elope with her, I think. Because her mother's an informer too, and she has to die. You see, those IRA types just can't be anything but miserable. Who wrote this tripe? Is that the Tom Bradby who was ITV's political editor? Stick to news, Tom. If it wasn't you, sorry.

It is easy to forget that you are watching a film and become completely absorbed. In my opinion that only happens with excellent films. It seemed all too real. Its low key atmosphere, few feel good moments and the lack of (unnecessary) block-busting special effects probably explains why the audience was so sparse, but its plot and its re-creation of 1990s Belfast had me hooked. The character of Collette as portrayed by Andrea Risborough was wonderfully inscrutable. I was trying to remember what I had seen her in, and I was astonished that she had also played Margaret Thatcher in "The Long Walk to Finchley". What that really the same actress? Well, yes it was, and shows she is one of the best in the business. My only minor concern was the brief romance. Possibly an extra conventional courtship scene was needed. Did Mac really have enough motivation to conceive the maverick idea of running off with her? Did Collette kiss him just to get greater protection, or were there true feelings which she overcame for the final denouement? This aspect was sketchy, but, I suppose, intriguing. I concluded that someone with the commitment to plant a bomb, wouldn't change her principles just because she had been threatened with jail.