Review of A Prayer for the Dying (1987) by Vincent W — 12 May 2005
All right. I just finished watching this now, so it seems like a good place to start.
Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) is an IRA terrorist who, in an attempt to blow up an army truck, ends up blasting a school bus. He becomes disillusioned and leaves the IRA, heading to London to obtain a passport and passage out of the country. He is met by Jack Meehan (Alan Bates) and his brother Billy (Christopher Fulford) who give him one last hit. He excecutes it, but is witnessed by Father Michael DaCosta (Bob Hoskins). So, Scotland Yard is after Fallon, Meehan is after DaCosta, and to make matters worse, the IRA want Fallon back something fierce. With nowhere else to turn, Fallon seeks absolution through DaCosta...
It's a little hard to find, but definitely worth seeing. It hits all the bases: violence, suspense, emotional drama, and hits them quite well. It captures the spirit of Jack Higgins' novel perfectly. This movie gets my recomenndation, for sure. Just watch out for Rourke's deadly Irish accent, worse than Richard Gere's in The Jackal.
This review of A Prayer for the Dying (1987) was written by Vincent W on 12 May 2005.
A Prayer for the Dying has generally received mixed reviews.
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