Review of Calvary (2014) by Jp F — 10 Sep 2014

Calvary is the story of a priest who is told he's going to die; specifically murdered. He's told to meet his maker on the beach in 7 days. This is John Michael McDonagh's follow up film to his 2011 masterpiece, The Guard.

From the moment I saw the trailer I knew I was in for a slow burn. Brendan Gleeson gives a fantastic performance as well as the rest of the cast. The cinematography and the coloring is gorgeous. The story is where this film is lacking; this could've been a 15 to 20 minute short film.

The first scene is where Gleeson finds out someone is out to kill him. Here's the thing Gleeson's character knows who it is the entire time, but the viewer doesn't find out until the last 10 minutes.

This is interesting because a lot of characters are introduced and just about anyone of them could be the culprit who's got it out for the priest. Sounds interesting however all the stuff that happens between the first scene and the last scene feels like filler.

I found myself questioning every scene. "Is that the guy?" "This can't be the guy." "Why did they film this scene?" There might be some deeper meaning other than character development in these scenes however I personally was so distracted by the key element of the story that I really didn't absorb or care to absorb anything that happened between the first 5 minutes and the last 10.

That and it felt haphazardly thrown together. This film is worth a watch for the visuals and the performance all of which are top notch.