- Directed by Alan Clarke
- Written by Bernard MacLaverty
- Stars Gary Walker, Bill Hamilton, Michael Foyle
- Run Time: 39 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoqnphLAEpg
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a series of people getting shot by different people. It’s extremely realistic in the acting and effects, and the camerawork has an interesting, voyeuristic quality. But there is no real story or plot, and it gets repetitive.
Synopsis
We’re in Northern Ireland for this one.
We watch a man enter a building, walk around a swimming pool, and then shoot a janitor. He then walks back out of the building. The same man then shoots the clerk in a gas station. In both cases, we get a long, lingering shot of the dead man after the killer leaves. The man then shoots a bald man in a parking lot five times.
- Another man shoots a guy in the restroom
- Another man shoots a guy in the park.
- Another man is killed in a restaurant.
- Another man is killed in a factory.
- And a home invasion.
- Soccer game.
- Gas station.
- An office.
- A warehouse.
- Parking Lot.
- And another parking lot.
- A house.
- An alley.
- Convention center
Commentary
There’s basically no real dialog; the film is just a long series of random executions, usually of people in places alone where there are no witnesses. It’s grainy and gritty; the camerawork is unobtrusive and effective. There’s no real acting, but the people all seem real enough.
This has something to do with “The Troubles” in Ireland, but as an American, I don’t know any real significance beyond that those were violent times. This was aired on BBC TV in 1989, and I’m sure that must have been a real shocker to watch in those days.
It very quickly becomes repetitive and… boring. This may actually have been the point of the film; the murders went on for so long that they all started to run together and become meaningless.