Review of Incendiary (2008) by Stacey M — 25 Oct 2008

Writing about films that are so-so is difficult. Writing about films that are great is easy. Writing about bad films is equally easy but fortunately I haven't had to do that for a while... until today.

Incendiary_poster.

Incendiary_poster.

I'd got vibes that Incendiary wasn't a great film but it has such a great cast, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams and sexy spy no1 Matthew MacFadyen that in lieu of anything else to see on a wet Sunday I thought I'd give it a go.

It's about a woman (Williams) who's life is torn apart when her 4-year old son and husband are killed by a series of suicide bombs targeting Arsenal's football stadium. It's a Chelsea game which may or may not be relevant to football fans.

When the bombs go off she is having it away in with Ewan McGregor, who is a journalist.

There are probably two and a half decent films trying to get out of this one but it has too many blind alleys and abandoned ideas to make a coherent and believable film. All the more frustrating because there are some wonderful scenes and glimpses of the better film it could have been.

It is also full of so much that is implausible even the dust from the silver screen can't work it's magic. For example, Williams, despite doing a credible English accent, is completely unbelievable as an East End, tower-block dwelling Mum with an alcoholic parent and McGregor seems to be playing the only journalist in this country that can afford to live in a Georgian town house and drive around in an Aston.

The biggest surprise was that such a clutch of great actors signed up to do it. Just goes to show you can't polish a turd.