Perrier's Bounty

PERRIER'S BOUNTY is YET another clichéd gangster movie in which everyone is ripping each other off and there are no nice characters in sight. RED EYE's Cillian Murphy plays a low-rent scumbag who owes money to a local gangster, played with familiar relish by Brendan Gleeson. Cue loads of chases, manic situations, pursuing hit men and even a little romance with shoehorned-in love interest Jodie Whittaker.

This could be just another London-set gangster drama in the same vein as many a Guy Ritchie movie, but the fact that it's Irish sets it apart a little from the crowd - but only a little. For the most part, it's highly predictable, and although the story is fairly fast-moving and interesting, unfortunately the script is a letdown. It really falls apart when it comes to the father/son bonding scenes with an out-of-place Jim Broadbent; these are indescribably boring and seem to go on forever.

However, fans of fantasy TV show GAME OF THRONES will be well served by the supporting cast; no less than four familiar faces from the programme appear here. There are minor parts for Francis Magee (Yoren) and Conleth Hill (Varys), and bigger, decent roles for Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) and Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth). At least their presence was enough to keep me entertained for the majority of the running time...

An Irish gangster crime comedy. Well, Irish, gangster and crime are all accurate but whether it's a comedy, drama or thriller that's up to you to decide. Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) has a bounty for the head of Michael (Cillian Murphy). Poor lad, he owes money to some local thugs.

With the help of his beautiful, slightly crazy and suicidal neighbour Brenda (Jodie Whittaker), they accidentally kill a thug, and then with the encouragement of his might-be-dying father (Jim Broadbent), they go on a crime spree.

It's a comedy of errors where the errors lead to many murders, some accidental but some because there's nothing better to do. It's violent for the sake of being violent with a few uneasy laughs. Add Gabriel Byrne as the voice of the narrator/The Reaper expounding on the philosophical virtues of life, death and the ocean, just to make the film more well-rounded. I'm assuming that's the purpose, and also that the contradiction between philosophy and gangster crime is supposed to be hilarious.

"Perrier's Bounty" could be a brilliant fusion of all genres into a gangster crime film. But it's missing some vital cohesiveness and substance to make this more than a weirdly funny, violent crime spree through an Irish night. Which isn't all that bad, but it's no "In Bruges".

Rented this on a recommendation from the video store owner, who like myself, is into just about every genre. We certainly don't shy away from foreign films, and this gangster/father-son story looked to be right up my alley.

Like I mentioned in the title - there is quite a bit of humor here that can be hard to pick up because of its' dry nature, and because of the thick accents. It can really make the difference between this being a completely average film, and this being a truly enjoyable, albeit lesser-known, humorous, and darkly adventurous tale.

The cast is strong and the story moves at a brisk pace. It's in the storyline vein of Tarantino or Ritchie, but lacks a bit of the panache of those directors' work.

Perrier's Bounty has good performances throughout, and there is little doubt that those fans of the afore mentioned directors will find this to be an exciting film. It's rated R for brief nudity, drug use, and violence.

The only stand-out negative would be the music. The music selections were great, but the volume of the music was WAY too loud compared to the dialog and the rest of the movie. Maybe the music director was a bit too proud of his/her selections. I had to turn the TV down every time a song came on, and then turn it back up when the dialog resumed. The only other negative would be a slightly rushed and under-developed love story that could have really put this over-the-top.

Recommended. THose who liked pulp fiction and lock stock will find this to be a good(not great) film along the same lines. LIsten carefully as many of the hilarious lines can pass you by. The strongest characteristic of this film is the relationship between Cillian Murphy and the actor(who's name escapes me as I'm writing this) who plays Cillian's father. Also, having two fantastic actors playing in the two lead Gangster roles helps immensely.

71/100

You'll like it if you liked: Layer Cake, State of Grace, or Harry Brown.

Once again a much hyped up Irish movie with an excellent cast is wasted by a disjointed shabby storyline which goes nowhere. It's one of those that you want to be good but only keeps your interest by some good acting by the leading men, especially Gleeson who was badly under used but was brilliant. Jim Broadbent with an Irish accent... I don't think so & why the hell is everyone in the movie using the word MAN at the end of every sentence. I have lived in Dublin a long time & that word in that context can only be associated with junkies. Yet it's an everyday word used by the majority of people in this movie (I was expecting the dogs to bark out the words MAN!). Plot holes too were everywhere, especially regarding the police... where were they? One of their cars is stolen & the thieves are able to drive around at their leisure... what about the two helicopters they have? Shootouts everywhere & no police. The overall storyline went round in circles & when it was over it was a relief & a huge disappointment! Come on MAN... Make better movies MAN!

Perrier's Bounty is an average, enjoyable comedy thriller. It features a terrific cast, including Cillian Murphy, Jodie Whittaker and Brendan Gleeson, all of whom are decent in their respective roles. Unfortunately, the weak link of the cast is Jim Broadbent, who delivers an excruciatingly bad Irish accent, which almost sounds like a parody. Composer David Holmes produces another entertaining and exciting score for this movie.

While it is fun, this film is pretty unremarkable. Although the characters are enjoyable to watch, mainly due to the actors inhabiting them, there is nothing particularly captivating about them, nor the movie as a whole. What keeps this movie relatively engaging is the excellent supporting cast of wonderful Irish actors that weave in and out of the story, such as Domhnall Gleeson, Liam Cunningham and Conleth Hill.