The Day Shall Come

I'm a huge fan of Chris Morris. Ever since stumbling on The Day Today one evening on BBC 2, I've found his output to be pretty much spot on. Four Lions is easily one of my favourite films, and Brass Eye is one of the few perfect comedy series I've ever seen.

With that said, The Day Shall Come is less of an outright comedy than Four Lions, and may alienate some fans due to the American setting, mostly unknown cast, and relatively stripped back levels of humour. Does that mean it's not a good film? Absolutely not. Does it mean that anyone who expected an out and out comedy in the vein of FL will go away disappointed? Quite possibly, and I'd wager that the lower scores on here are testament to that.

On the whole, the cast do a great job. Moses is an inherently likeable character, and for that reason I found myself rooting for him a fair bit. His wife was played in a similarly loveable manner, and the two of them had a great deal of chemistry.

Anna Kendrick (of whom I'm not really a fan) has some great lines and is very believable as an FBI agent with one eye on career advancement and the other on, you know, functioning like an actual human being.

The rest of the supporting cast are all perfectly fine, with nothing really standing out as bad to me at least.

Where the film really shines is in the dialogue however. I won't quote it here, but there's one line about a toy weapon that made me howl, and another gag about mangos which had me chuckling after the movie was done.

In all, it's a good comedy and a superb satire, but recalibrate your expectations accordingly. This isn't a British film, it's an American one with some excellent writing from a British national treasure. Go in with as little foreknowledge as possible and you'll enjoy it. Just don't expect another Four Lions.

The Day Shall Come: Chris Morris directs a dark comedy/satire/thriller along the same grounds as Four Lions but this one doesn't quite reach the Lion's level. It strays into SpyFi with the constant monitoring through drones cctv, wires, hidden bodycams. Morris says that this is based on 100 true tales of LEAs in the US entrapping hapless individuals incapable of carrying out any real attack. Moses (Marchant Davis) is the leader of a small cult which worships Jesus, Black Santa, Muhammad and Toussaint Louverture, a duck told him to found it (when he doesn't take his medication animals speak to him). His small group based in Miami is dragged into an elaborate plot involving a false Sheikh, guns, uranium and a horse.

The film is quite funny in parts but it doesn't hang together so well. The FBI/Police office politics, insults and wisecracking involving Anna Kendrick, Denis O'Hare and James Adomian seem divorced from the main plot yet they seal Marchant's fate. Things perhaps get over-complicated when a nazi gang are introduced as end customers for the uranium. Worth watching and with a running time of 88 minutes it doesn't drag but I was expecting better from Morris. 6/10.

I had been looking forward to this film forever as four lions is possibly my favourite film of all time and still has me roaring with laughter after multiple views. However where four lions got things right this film misses the mark and didn't even bring the smallest of chuckles from me at any point a remarkably average film and just not funny enough for a supposed comedy.

The Day Shall Come has a lot of interesting ideas going for it, and the first half hour of the movie is great, but unfortunately it does not manage to develop into anything interesting. The protagonists family and friends are a charming bunch but unfortunately they are 2-dimensional props in the universe. The drama between them feels too hastily executed and forced. Despite the potential for more their relationships never seem develop in any significant way. The premise is strong, but the absurdity and incompetence of both the government agencies and the protagonist makes it hard to get invested in the problem. What bothered me the most was the story featured several themes that I didn't think added anything substantial to the story or could have been used better. Especially the story around the crane felt like a missed opportunity to keep the misunderstandings rolling.

All in all it felt like a four lions knock off. It had a few laughs, but wasn't nearly as funny.

We often see this type of misfire in horror (an horror movie that takes itself seriously but would have done better by embracing its absurdity or the opposite, a movie that jokes which kills the much needed tension.)

I will not spoil anything, but I believe there was something in this movie, something under the absurdity and a story to tell. Anna Kendrick did a wonderful job as usual, she is just a gem. But point remains that this movie hesitated before the jump and fell in-between. A good comedy of that genre requires one of the two, someone who takes things seriously while others don't, or someone who doesn't take things seriously while others do. We need a contrast, this movie should have been more grounded.

It's funny, it's good, but it could have had an 8 out of 10. I give it the 8 out of 10 because I am pretty sure most people won't discuss the potential it had on here and just bash.

Again, there is something in this movie, it's just not fleshed out properly.