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==Reception==
==Reception==
===Critical reception===
===Critical reception===
''Four Lions'' received mostly positive reviews. It holds an 87% "Fresh" rating on review aggregating site [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/four_lions/ |title=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref>
''Four Lions'' received mostly positive reviews. It holds an 88% "Fresh" rating on review aggregating site [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/four_lions/ |title=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=14 May 2010}}</ref>


''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' wrote "[Chris Morris'] evocations of the claustrophobic mundanity of the Muslims’ lives, their quarrelous banter, their flimsily pick 'n’ mix approach to the Koran all feel painfully, brilliantly real."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/7686374/Four-Lions-review.html |title=Four Lions, review |publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=6 May 2010 |location=London |accessdate=16 May 2010 | first=Sukhdev | last=Sandhu}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Express]]'' rated ''Four Lions'' 4/5 and praised the performances in particular, calling the film "brilliantly cast with all the actors displaying sharp comic timing and both [Riz] Ahmed and [Kayvan] Novak also bringing out the touching humanity of their characters."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/view/173603/Four-Lions-film-review-and-trailer |title=Four Lions: film review and trailer |publisher=[[The Daily Express]] |date=7 May 2010 |location=London |accessdate=16 May 2010}}</ref>
''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' wrote "[Chris Morris'] evocations of the claustrophobic mundanity of the Muslims’ lives, their quarrelous banter, their flimsily pick 'n’ mix approach to the Koran all feel painfully, brilliantly real."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/7686374/Four-Lions-review.html |title=Four Lions, review |publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=6 May 2010 |location=London |accessdate=16 May 2010 | first=Sukhdev | last=Sandhu}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Express]]'' rated ''Four Lions'' 4/5 and praised the performances in particular, calling the film "brilliantly cast with all the actors displaying sharp comic timing and both [Riz] Ahmed and [Kayvan] Novak also bringing out the touching humanity of their characters."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/view/173603/Four-Lions-film-review-and-trailer |title=Four Lions: film review and trailer |publisher=[[The Daily Express]] |date=7 May 2010 |location=London |accessdate=16 May 2010}}</ref>

Revision as of 12:33, 26 October 2010

Four Lions
Directed byChris Morris
Written byChris Morris
Jesse Armstrong
Sam Bain
Produced byMark Herbert
Derrin Schlesinger
StarringRiz Ahmed
Arsher Ali
Nigel Lindsay
Kayvan Novak
Adeel Akhtar
Craig Parkinson
CinematographyLol Crawley
Edited byBilly Sneddon
Production
company
Distributed byOptimum Releasing
Release date
  • 7 May 2010 (2010-05-07)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film UK
LanguageEnglish
Box office£2,932,366

Four Lions is the debut feature film from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.[1] The film is a Jihad satire following a group of Jihadi Islamist terrorists from Sheffield, England.

Plot

The film follows a group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield who have become radicalised and decide to become suicide bombers. Two members of the group, Omar (Riz Ahmed) and Waj (Kayvan Novak), go to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.[2] The other two are Barry (Nigel Lindsay), who is a convert to Islam, and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar), who tries to train crows to be bombers.[3] A fifth member, Hassan (Arsher Ali), is recruited by Barry while Omar and Waj are in Pakistan.[2] Faisal accidentally kills himself moving explosives.[2] The film culminates in the remaining four trying to blow themselves up at the London Marathon.[4]

Production

Morris spent three years researching the project, speaking to terrorism experts, police, the secret service, and imams, as well as ordinary Muslims, and writing the script in 2007.[5] In a separate interview, he asserts that the research predated the 7 July 2005 London Bombings:

"It was an attempt to figure it out, to ask, 'What's going on with this?' This [the "War on Terror"] is something that's commanding so much of our lives, shaping so much of our culture, turning this massive political wheel. I was wondering what this new game was all about. But then 7/7 hit that with a fairly large impact, in that we were suddenly seeing all these guys with a Hovis accent. Suddenly you're not dealing with an amorphous Arab world so much as with British people who have been here quite a long time and who make curry and are a part of the landscape. So you've got a double excavation going on."[6]

The project was originally rejected by both the BBC and Channel 4 as being too controversial. Morris suggested in a mass email, titled "Funding Mentalism", that fans could contribute between £25 and £100 each to the production costs of the film and would appear as extras in return.[7] Funding was secured in October 2008 from Film 4 Productions and Warp Films, with Mark Herbert producing. Filming began in Sheffield in May 2009.[8][9]

Morris has described the film as a "farce", which exposes the "Dad's Army side to terrorism".[10] During the making of the film, the director sent the script to former Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg. Begg has said that he found nothing in the script that would be offensive to British Muslims. The actor Riz Ahmed also contacted Begg, to ask whether the subject matter was "too raw". When the film was completed, Begg was given a special screening and said that he enjoyed it.[11]

Release

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010[12] and was short-listed for the festival's World Cinema Narrative prize.[13] Introducing the film's premiere Chris Morris said: “I feel in a weird way that this is a good-hearted film. It's not a hate film, so I would hope that aspect would come through."[14]

The UK premiere took place at the Bradford International Film Festival on 25 March 2010[15] followed by a nationwide release on 7 May.[16]

Four Lions was released on DVD and Blu-Ray 30 August 2010.

Reception

Critical reception

Four Lions received mostly positive reviews. It holds an 88% "Fresh" rating on review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes.[17]

The Daily Telegraph wrote "[Chris Morris'] evocations of the claustrophobic mundanity of the Muslims’ lives, their quarrelous banter, their flimsily pick 'n’ mix approach to the Koran all feel painfully, brilliantly real."[18] The Daily Express rated Four Lions 4/5 and praised the performances in particular, calling the film "brilliantly cast with all the actors displaying sharp comic timing and both [Riz] Ahmed and [Kayvan] Novak also bringing out the touching humanity of their characters."[19]

Upon its screening at Sundance, The Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter gave the film extremely positive reviews, the latter describing the film as "a brilliant takedown of the imbecility of fanaticism" drawing comparisons with This Is Spinal Tap and The Three Stooges.[20][21]

Amongst the reviewers that gave the film negative and mixed reviews were Nigel Andrews of The Financial Times, who called the film a "spectacular miss"[22] and The Guardian's Jeremy Kay, who wrote "as a satire on terror, Four Lions seems to be a missed opportunity".[23] Andrew Pulver, writing for The Guardian, gave the film a more favourable review, stating that "Chris Morris is still the most incendiary figure working in the British entertainment industry."[24]

The UK premiere at the National Media Museum in Bradford was followed by a question and answer session with Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, three of the principal actors and two of the producers. Morris stated that he does not find the film at all controversial and that attempting to cause controversy is "one of the most boring things you can do".[25]

Box office

Despite an initial release on just 115 screens across the UK, the film saw impressive numbers at the Box Office on its opening weekend, generating the highest site average of all the new releases (£5,292) and making a total of £609,000. According to the Official Top 10 UK Film Chart (7–9 May 2010), Four Lions was placed at sixth behind Iron Man 2, Furry Vengeance, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hot Tub Time Machine and The Back-Up Plan.[26] Due to its popularity, Optimum Releasing increased the number of screens showing the film to 200.[27]

As of 6 August 2010, Four Lions has grossed £2,928,884 at the UK box office.[28]

References

  1. ^ Jay Richardson (25 January 2009). "The prolific writing trio behind Peep Show and The Thick Of It tell why they're pushing the mainstream so close to the edge". The Scotsman. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Kaleem Aftab (25 January 2010). "First Night: Four Lions, Sundance Film Festival". London: The Independent. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  3. ^ Justin Chang (24 January 2010). "Four Lions Review – Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie Four Lions". New York: Variety magazine. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  4. ^ Nick Fraser (24 January 2010). "Four Lions: How satirist Chris Morris fixed his eye on ideology and bombers". London: The Observer. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. ^ Chris Morris (25 November 2007). "The Absurd world of Martin Amis". London: The Observer. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  6. ^ Xan Brooks (1 May 2010). "Chris Morris: 'Bin Laden doesn't really do jokes'". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  7. ^ David Moats (13 October 2008). "Chris Morris announces Jihad Film / Needs money". The Quietus. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  8. ^ "Chris Morris directing something on The Moor this lunch". Sheffieldforums.co.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  9. ^ "Set Shot From Chris Morris' Four Lions/Boilerhouse". Bleeding Cool.com. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  10. ^ Geneviève Roberts (6 January 2009). "Wannabe suicide bombers beware: Chris Morris movie gets go-ahead". London: The Independent. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  11. ^ Arifa Akbar (30 April 2010). "The Diary: Moazzam Begg; Justin Adams and Juldeh Camar; Lisa Jewell; Election Drama; Colm Toibin". London: The Independent. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  12. ^ "Chris Morris's terrorist comedy premieres at Sundance". BBC News. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  13. ^ "2010 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN COMPETITION". Sundance Film Festival 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  14. ^ Amber Wilkinson (17 February 2010). "Roaring into controversy?: Chris Morris on his inspiration for suicide bomber comedy Four Lions – and why his isn't worried about the press". Eye For Film. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  15. ^ "Four Lions – Bradford International Film Festival 2010". National Media Museum. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  16. ^ "Four Lions Sundance diary". London: The Guardian. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
  17. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  18. ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (6 May 2010). "Four Lions, review". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  19. ^ "Four Lions: film review and trailer". London: The Daily Express. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  20. ^ "Sundance 2010: 'Four Lions' is scary funny". The Los Angeles Times. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  21. ^ "Four Lions Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010. [dead link]
  22. ^ "Sundance film festival". Financial Times. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  23. ^ Kay, Jeremy (25 January 2010). "Chris Morris's Four Lions: a mixed dish that fails to satisfy". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  24. ^ Pulver, Andrew (25 March 2010). "Four Lions review". London: The Guardian.
  25. ^ "Chris Morris Four Lions UK Premiere BIFF 2010". YouTube. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  26. ^ Gant, Charles (11 May 2010). "Four Lions has roaring weekend at UK box office". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  27. ^ "Four Lions screenings doubled despite calls for ban". BBC Newsbeat. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  28. ^ http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article/16915/UK-Box-Office-30-July---1-August-2010
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