Auf den Schwingen des Todes

IRA hitman Martin Fallon botches a hit, and accidentally kills a bus full of children, desperate to escape the life, Martin agrees one final hit, but is seen by a Priest, who tries to convince him to see the error of his ways.

I would class this as something of a hidden gem, and judging by the limited number of reviews, it sadly seems to have been largely forgotten.

One of my dad's favourite films, I'd watch it on a semi regular basis, and as of today, I'd say it hasn't lost any of its shock value, and certainly none of its grit.

It's a fairly bleak and dark story, the harrowing opening sequences set the tone, and remind us all just how bad 'the troubles' were, truly a violent and tragic piece of history.

Arguably it's a little corny in parts, and that ending is wild beyond belief, but the core of the story is excellent, and the cast all deliver terrific performances.

A pretty terrific cast, and Rourke, if ever you need reminding of just how good an actor he is, stick this on.

8/10.

Completely (and rather unjustly) forgotten today, this is an offbeat, interesting dramatic thriller based on a book that seems to lift its basic idea from Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess" (actually, I haven't seen "I Confess" yet, but everybody knows its premise). The movie has a great cast and makes an earnest attempt to combine psychodrama with more traditional thriller elements. The main problem is that, once the basic situation has been (elaborately) set up, the story seems to get stalled and has nowhere to go. There is also a subplot, involving Liam Neeson in an early role as Mickey Rourke's old comrade in the IRA, that's ultimately just a waste of time. (**)

Based on the Jack Higgins novel of the same name, A Prayer for the Dying follows an IRA hitman (Rourke) who has seen enough and wants to come clean. Chased the cops and the IRA as well as a notorious gangster, Rourke (as Martin Fallon) has to protect a priest who he has implicated in a murder. While some of the supporting actors aren't the most impressive, I think that this is Rourke's best work. He plays a man with a haunted past who wants desperately to put an end to the cycle of violence that has followed him for years.

A Prayer For The Dying is a melodramatic romantic action thriller following IRA assassin Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke), a man with a brutal path in life whose long buried conscience surfaces after an explosives mission goes awry, resulting in the death of schoolchildren aboard a bus. It's a bold scene to start a film with, and in every instance after it Fallon has a haunted frenzy about him, clearly damaged by what he did and saw. As if that weren't enough, he now finds himself compelled to murder a priest (Bob Hoskins) who witnessed one of his militant crimes. Fallon spends a lot of time hesitating, and in that hesitation he strikes up a romance with the Hoskins's blind daughter (Sammi Davis), finding sanctuary and a modicum of redemption with the two of them. A lot of nasty people from his past are looking for him though, including his amoral former partner (Liam Neeson), an evil British crime kingpin (the great Alan Bates) and the kingpin's murderous brat of a son (Christopher Fulford). Obligatory shootouts, personal and religious angst, sappy sentiment and dodgy accents, particularly from Rourke, ensue. He can blend into a lot of roles and pull off a lot of different characters, but it seems an Irish accent is a stretch, and it shows. As the character of Fallon himself, ethnicity aside, he does a bang up job though. Bates is razor focused in playing anyone, and his villain here is a spidery creepo. Neeson is young and doesn't get much to do except hassle Rourke, but their confrontations are nicely done by both parties. Director Mike Hodges, whose other work I've never really seen, seems to like slow and deliberate action scenes, very old world and sometimes repetitive, but entertaining nonetheless. Not the best IRA thriller out there (most of the events here have little to do with the movement anyway, and focus more on Fallon), but a decent way to spend a couple hours.

Gotta admit, I'm on a Mickey Rourke run, having just seen Angel Heart, Barfly, and Francesco. A Prayer for the Dying is a wonderful piece of work -teriffic acting by all, including Bates, Hoskins, etc. Mickey Rourke has to be one of the most under-rated actors in the industry. His "bad-boy" image hasn't helped, as it has helped other actors who fall into the same category. He reminds me a lot of Steve McQueen -subtle, intense, controlled acting, but when the action is needed he delivers. I sincerely hope he has a comeback sometime soon. In the meantime, run to your nearest video store and rent this great film. There are some incredible moments that I won't forget anytime soon. This story has been told before: bad guy trying to get away from the badness. . . but Rourke makes is all new, by adding his own unique charism. See it.