Four Lions

So much of the best satire comes out of England. There's a fearlessness over there that's pretty much unheard of over here. Chris Morris is very much a driving force behind this. Over the last two decades, he's tackled just about every taboo under the sun on his various television projects. Recently, with Four Lions, he brought his edge to the movies.

Four Lions is the kind of movie that is absolutely impossible to get made in Hollywood. It's pitch dark. It's uncompromising. It's politically inflammatory. It's not for the easily offended. And also, it's funny as hell.

What Morris has managed to make is a zany screwball comedy, about an inept group of Islamic terrorists planning, and botching, an attack. A story like this is not an easy task to pull off. He has to walk a lot of tightropes. The whole movie is a balancing act; it has to press buttons to get a point across, but it knows the right buttons to press. For example, one very important and wise move is making one of the terrorists (and probably the dumbest and most zealous of the group) a white guy.

The characters, though mostly buffoons, are also three-dimensional. They believe with all their hearts in their cause, and are willing to die for it. The leader has a wife and son, both of whom are aware of his plans and supportive. This devotion, combined with their ineptitude, make them simultaneously comical and also quite scary.

Where does it all go, you ask? I don't want to say too specifically, because the payoff is both funny and poignant. This is a very good film, the kind that stays with you after it ends. A-