Escape to the Movies: Four Lions

[RDubayoo]

Hate to say it, but John Stewart and Stephen Colbert really are smug. I don't know what else you can say about two guys who run a "Sanity" rally, as if everyone else who dares to disagree with their point-of-view (and frankly I'm not really sure what their POV even is) is not sane, and THEN you go in there with no message, you fill your rally with potheads, and to top it off you have a performance by Cat Stevens, [url = http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54174770] a zealot who wants to kill Salman Rushdie [/url].

Oh, wait! Maybe that's supposed to be a joke! Stewart and Colbert presented themselves as sane... but they're not! Hahahaha, good one! Okay, I take that back, their sense of self-deprecating humor is REALLY witty.

As for the movie, it sounds like it could be fun and interesting to watch, but I fear it's only scraping the surface of the suicide bomber issue. Sure, a lot of them are idiots, but that's not always the case. Many of them are quite well educated. While technically not a suicide bomber, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a psychiatrist in the Army. Is there an explanation for why someone like him who's reasonably intelligent and probably had things pretty good would suddenly go berserk and start slaughtering his own comrades? I have a feeling the answer to that question would be something people would rather not face.

 

[Cyanin]

Saw it cinema a few months ago in Ireland. Very funny movie. Go see it.

All of you.

 

[Knight Templar]

The funnest part of this was the "they didn't make it during WWII".
Anyway sounds like a movie my sister would love.

 

[Swaki]

I might see this movie. I enjoyed Shaun of the Dead and that was British comedy.

that's like going to see the next "movie" movie because its an American movie, and dr. strangelove is a American movie.

 

[Kaher]

Why did you did that Bob i F*cking loved your show ...

But no , I guess friends are right you americans don't show any sign of respect for history , yourself , or other People ... Here is why :

1- You are comparing WORLD WAR 2 to the Middle east american interventions ... You are comparing a slaughter of 65 million people to a conflict that merly killed what 3000 americans on a plane crash ?

So you are saying that the actual muslim extremists are comparable to Nazis ??

You american (and co.) killed at least 100 000 people in Irak ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Body_Count_project ), and you still think you are the good guys don't you ?

You f*ucking have nuclear bombs , neutron bomble , Intelligence , satellites, tanks ...
But nooooo poor americans , they must save the day as usual and blah blah blah .

Always bitching about other people ... Nazis , Russians , now muslims your existence have no sense if you don't grab your guns and go to save the world from the :

Bad terrorist or russian who is : dumb / Heartless / evil but never never fighting for his freedom .

Don't you see it : You are the fucking bad guys (almost)every fucking dictatorship on the planet , like in my country , in Tunisia is you Ally and we suffer from repression and deniel because of you .

YOU CREATE THE TERRORISTS , you and your companies ravage the world and let people hungry don't blame on them to become beasts .

P.S. : you know what ? What disgusts me the most is that you can't let people live in peace ... Arabs and muslims once belived in you and fought on your side during world war 2 , if you know french watch "indigènes" ... C'est un film qui parle de notre souffrance . And don't forget once turned in a beast after seeing his nation raveged a no matter it origin a man will ask for vengeance god have mercy on you american ... because the dead do not forgive

 

[psilontech]

Blah Blah Blah
B*tch, whine, b*tch, whine.
Dial angst up to 11 and get off on trying to be a victim.

Cry me a river kiddo.

Anyway, now that the little kid issue has been dealt with:

I wasn't offended by the movie. Had no reason to be.
That said, I didn't find the comedy very funny. Chuckled when the sheep were bombed and when the crow blew up.

 

[Electrogecko]

Definitely interested.
That honey monster thing looks scary as fuck....

 

[Electrogecko]

Why did you did that Bob i F*cking loved your show ...

But no , I guess friends are right you americans don't show any sign of respect for history , yourself , or other People ... Here is why :

1- You are comparing WORLD WAR 2 to the Middle east american interventions ... You are comparing a slaughter of 65 million people to a conflict that merly killed what 3000 americans on a plane crash ?

So you are saying that the actual muslim extremists are comparable to Nazis ??

You american (and co.) killed at least 100 000 people in Irak ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Body_Count_project ), and you still think you are the good guys don't you ?

You f*ucking have nuclear bombs , neutron bomble , Intelligence , satellites, tanks ...
But nooooo poor americans , they must save the day as usual and blah blah blah .

Always bitching about other people ... Nazis , Russians , now muslims your existence have no sense if you don't grab your guns and go to save the world from the :

Bad terrorist or russian who is : dumb / Heartless / evil but never never fighting for his freedom .

Don't you see it : You are the fucking bad guys (almost)every fucking dictatorship on the planet , like in my country , in Tunisia is you Ally and we suffer from repression and deniel because of you .

YOU CREATE THE TERRORISTS , you and your companies ravage the world and let people hungry don't blame on them to become beasts .

P.S. : you know what ? What disgusts me the most is that you can't let people live in peace ... Arabs and muslims once belived in you and fought on your side during world war 2 , if you know french watch "indigènes" ... C'est un film qui parle de notre souffrance . And don't forget once turned in a beast after seeing his nation raveged a no matter it origin a man will ask for vengeance god have mercy on you american ... because the dead do not forgive

Jesus dude wtf....Did you sign up just to deliver this rant?

 

[Alar]

I'm going to have to see this. It sounds like a blast, and I haven't seen a good movie in a while.

 

[nick n stuff]

glad you liked it cos when i saw it i thought it was awesome but no-one else did. i never expected this film to be reviewed on this site but pleasantly surprised.

also, the honey monster is not awesome as it plagerism the Might Boosh, THE corner stone of modern off the wall British comedy.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

How have I not heard of this? I was semi-expecting a review of Let Me In, and then this rolls along? I am intrigued, and shall endeavour to see it.

And yes, the Honey Monster is awesome. As my Sugar Puffs T-shirt suggests.

Assuming you have a Honey Monster t-shirt (from the recent cereal box giveaway) then I assume you live in the UK. In which case, Four Lions came out last year and is already on DVD.

Pfft. As a true fan, my t-shirt pre-dates such crude giveaways (I believe it came from Next about 2 years ago...). However, my lack of knowledge of this film still shocks me... 'Tis clearly DVD time!

 

[Hexenwolf]

Those comedians ARE smug Bob. Thats kinda their shtik. At least I always thought the whole thing was a parody of all the serious political commentators like Rush Limba. Which is also funny cause if you listen to Rush enough you become aware that he is purposfuly acting like an bloated gas bag for the sake of his ratings. But please don't take this opinion to seriously cause I don't.

Well, that's kinda his point. It's a shtik, as in, they're playing it for comedy. He's referring to people who think that those comedians are genuinely smug.

As for the movie, I've never heard of it before, but you've really piqued my interest.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Thank you so much for recommending this.

 

[MovieBob]

1- You are comparing WORLD WAR 2 to the Middle east american interventions ... You are comparing a slaughter of 65 million people to a conflict that merly killed what 3000 americans on a plane crash ?

No, I'm comparing "Hogans Heroes," a television comedy that used not just Nazis but a Nazi prison camp as fodder for humor to "Four Lions" using suicide bombers - to be clear, guys whose entire stated goal is to mass-murder innocent civilians - as objects of slapstick. Obviously, WWII and the current wars in the Middle East cannot be reasonably compared, the difference is night and day.

 

[matt87_50]

this definitely sounds like something only the British could pull off.

 

[RTR]

I was expecting 127 Hours but this was nice

 

[UberNoodle]

Yet, Postal: The Movie, was "offensive" and in "bad taste". I thought it was hilarious!

 

[Cameron Sours]

Why did you did that Bob ... -snip-

Have you seen this Movie, or researched it at all?
It satirizes the police as well as the terrorists. I think this movie is an honest and mature look at the motivations and thoughts of terrorists, just through a very very wonky mirror.

If wonky mirrors (black comedy) are not your thing, that is OK.
Conflating ignorance of Islam (is it OK if I type that word, or is that haraam?) with irony is NOT OK.

EDIT: After re-watching Bob's treatment of the movie I can see how some might be offended, but rest assured that the movie much better? (not quite the word I am looking for) than this review.

Also, are you offended by the other movies (Green Zone, etc) that DO depict the Americans/Brits/etc (or at least some subset of these) as absolute heroes?

This movie is NOTHING like that.

EDIT EDIT: Characterizing the movie as "Three Stooges go to Jihad" is a severe oversimplification; It does not "pretty much sum up the whole film".

Also saying that there are no "good guys" in the movie is another oversimplification. Everybody in the movie is sincere about what they are doing (except one which just serves as another source of emotional whiplash); They are all just doing the 'wrong' thing or doing it very badly.

 

[Cameron Sours]

lol the gun is too small

No, bro, he's just got big hands!