Four Lions Review

TERRORISM! JIHAD! SUICIDE BOMBERS!

Not exactly something you'd associate with a comedy. Especially in this day and age where NYC finds itself checking suspiciously parked cars and anyone who dares draw a picture of the Muslim prophet Muhammad will be beheaded and/or stoned.

So step forward comedic genius Chris Morris; famous for satirical television shows such as Brass Eye, Nathan Barley and the absolutely deranged Jam. For years he's hinted at something bigger, something more explosive and akin to Dad's Army, for terrorists.

Well it's finally here, the potential day of reckoning is upon us, but at least it'll leave you smiling ear to ear.

Four Lions is the tale of four Islamic extremists who have decided to become suicide bombers. Leading the gang is Omar (played by Riz Ahmed) who is ultimately the brains behind the operation. Surprisingly he has a brother who believes that conflict is not the way forward and even more surprisingly, his own wife and son back his ambitions to cause murder and mayhem.

Up next is the lovably stupid Waj (played to perfection by Fone and Facejacker Kayvan Novak). Waj is the closest the audience gets to a sympathetic character. He's usually confused about which path to take and finds utterly random western ideals and products to be evil (ranging from how much it is for a McDonalds meal to Mini Babybells).

At the start of the movie, the duo go to a training camp in Pakistan, leaving behind Faisal (played by Adeel Akhtar) who's collecting explosives but doesn't want to blow himself up and Barry (played by Nigel Lindsay)...who deserves an entire paragraph dedicated to him.

Barry is a convert and easily the best comedic creation since Brick Tamland. Although he's 100% behind the cause, he's so utterly ridiculous he fails to see the severe flaws in his mindset (from claiming Faisal's dad is a Jew for buying Jaffa oranges) to his ultimate plan: To blow up a Mosque and fast track all moderates into extremists which is promptly rejected by Omar several times throughout the film.

With Omar and Waj gone, Barry appears at a council meeting making a fool of himself before a young and angry Hassan impresses him with a "...jihad of the mind". Hassan (played by Arsher Ali) is another sympathetic character who wants to make a difference but is obviously conflicted by the levels of which Omar and his team want to go.

He's eventually convinced by Barry to join the group and when Omar and Waj return from their disastrous trip abroad, the four become a fivesome and the film shows the planning and eventual execution of their plan; to attack the London Marathon.

So that it in a nutshell. We have five characters, some of which we can feel some attachment for but otherwise, we want them to fail miserably for the sake of the unnamed people who might be killed in the conflict.

Obviously centring an entire comedy around this seems impossible to build humour around and yet Morris and Peep Show duo Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain somehow do it. The film's comedy is built around fantastic one liners and utterly stupid scenarios. Whether is Waj's outbursts or the group squat thrusting with explosives, fans of Morris' previous work or those with an eye for subtle satire will find something that can amass a giggle (or in my case, belly laughing).

Again, as with a lot of Morris' satirical work, the film pokes around the obvious holes in opinion. A good example of this is Barry's plan to blow up a Mosque. You can see why he's suggesting it, but he fails to see that he's attacking Muslims themselves and ends up having his plan picked apart by Omar using a metaphor almost as brilliant as one seen in The Wire involving Chess.

The same applies for Omar's brother who disapproves of his brother's planning but is viewed as sexist for his relationship to Omar's wife and locking his own in a cupboard. It shows the two sides of extremism; Omar, who wears western clothes and listens to Dancing in the Moonlight whilst planning to blow himself up is the antithesis to his brother who wears traditionalist clothes, is generally peaceful but treats women as second class citizens.

And that's just tipping the iceberg. There's plenty more but rather than reading this and losing the humour through writing, do yourself a favour and see it for yourself.

For laugh out loud one liners to brilliant satire on the same level as Brass Eye and South Park, Four Lions is the film for you. Check it out whilst you can, before it gets banned by The Daily Mail or something.

9/10

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