In spite of the title of the flick turning out to be a spoiler of sorts, I did not immediately 'get' the final twist for a bit.
Not a fan of unwanted twist endings, but this one hit me like a sledgehammer of sorts.
A decent prologue, followed by meaty cloaks-and-daggers turns by both the IRA and the MI5, that does not reveal initially about the layers-with-layers of relationships that are shrouded in the everyday, mundane activity of our leads.
I have to confess, though, that in spite of the main leads being Owen and Riseborough, it did take me some time to 'buy into' the main premise of the movie, before it became gripping for me, quite a while at that, around 50 minutes of its runtime at least, all the while I was thinking that this was one movie where the trailer seemed more exciting than the main product, and that James 'Man on wire' Marsh was vastly overrated. There were a few sequences that made me feel that they were done for effect (hey, lookee here, I've got a budget to play with) and nothing else, but the power of hindsight kinda eliminated that thought, ultimately. Well, glad to say, I was wrong by miles, but one needs to get into the movie in order to appreciate it, and stay with it all the way.
Early roles for Aidan Gellen (Game of thrones, Blitz, Calvary...) and Domhnall Gleeson (About time, Ex Machina, Star Wars: the force awakens..), with a few sequences with Gillian Anderson (The X Files, who looks absolutely gorgeous, at her age, when this filmed) make this a fine ensemble-piece, and one of the best things, I have to say, was probably a combination of both the narrative style itself, along with the editing, with almost nothing looking/sounding out of place in the proceedings.
One of the best use of scores in the trailer however, disappointingly, does not make its presence felt in the main feature (as good as it is, it has been used in other flicks, I'm sure, though the titles escape me for now).
Not to be missed, this one's an underrated/under-seen little gem.
Not a fan of unwanted twist endings, but this one hit me like a sledgehammer of sorts.
A decent prologue, followed by meaty cloaks-and-daggers turns by both the IRA and the MI5, that does not reveal initially about the layers-with-layers of relationships that are shrouded in the everyday, mundane activity of our leads.
I have to confess, though, that in spite of the main leads being Owen and Riseborough, it did take me some time to 'buy into' the main premise of the movie, before it became gripping for me, quite a while at that, around 50 minutes of its runtime at least, all the while I was thinking that this was one movie where the trailer seemed more exciting than the main product, and that James 'Man on wire' Marsh was vastly overrated. There were a few sequences that made me feel that they were done for effect (hey, lookee here, I've got a budget to play with) and nothing else, but the power of hindsight kinda eliminated that thought, ultimately. Well, glad to say, I was wrong by miles, but one needs to get into the movie in order to appreciate it, and stay with it all the way.
Early roles for Aidan Gellen (Game of thrones, Blitz, Calvary...) and Domhnall Gleeson (About time, Ex Machina, Star Wars: the force awakens..), with a few sequences with Gillian Anderson (The X Files, who looks absolutely gorgeous, at her age, when this filmed) make this a fine ensemble-piece, and one of the best things, I have to say, was probably a combination of both the narrative style itself, along with the editing, with almost nothing looking/sounding out of place in the proceedings.
One of the best use of scores in the trailer however, disappointingly, does not make its presence felt in the main feature (as good as it is, it has been used in other flicks, I'm sure, though the titles escape me for now).
Not to be missed, this one's an underrated/under-seen little gem.