L'Irlandais

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.

In my opinion Mickey Rourke's third best movie, the first being "Angel Heart" and the second being "Year of the Dragon".

Rourke teamed up with Mike Hodges the director of such classics as "Get Carter" and the more recent "Croupier" in April of 1986 in London.

The whole movie was filmed on location in London, the Irish scenes at the beginning were filmed probably in Herts. The actual church is in Canning in London, near the ill fated Millennium Dome and still stands today. It wasn't being used as a church at the time, and the roof damage was real due to a bombing in the second world war. The church still stands and is currently used as a community centre.

Rourke plays Martin Fallon an IRA terrorist with a heart who recently bombed a school bus by accident and fled to London to evade the IRA and start again. He is taken on by local kingpin Jack Meehan played by a very camp Alan Bates whom has a day job of a funeral director and by night a nasty villain who wants Fallon to do one last job and he will pay him well and give him a passport and ticket to the US.

The mark Fallon is to kill is another local kingpin whom Meehan wants dead so he can take over his drug business. The mark he has to kill always visits his mother in a local church where Fallon shoots him, but is seen by Father Da Costa played very well by Bob Hoskins. Da Costa won't co-operate with the police after hearing Fallon's confession and the whole movie then is based around Jack Meehan trying to kill Fallon and the Da Costa.

Rourke's accent is spot on, maybe not to a true Irishman, but certainly to most it is very good, and his acting is on top form.

Hoskins is believable and carries of being a vicar fairly well, and the script also tells he is an ex army officer which gives him a bit of reason to be little rough on some of the villains.

Look out for a young Anthony Head (from Buffy) and a blind Sammi Davis whom was very popular in a lot of Ken Russell movies from the early 90's.

Mickey Rourke is a much deeper and more dedicated actor than he gets credit for. His accent in " A Prayer.." is spot on and that is quite an accomplishment that takes months of dedication. He takes his place up in the front row with Gary Oldman, Pete Postlewaithe (sp.?) and I even have to include Brad Pitt after his amazing performance in Snatch. Rourke's Bad Boy image makes the moral dilemma he creates for himself or finds himself in even more effective. Brilliant scene when Hoskins becomes increasingly irate and at the peak of his fury we see him from Rourke's POV and his dark outline eclipses the first few letters of a "Courage" beer sign and only the flashing red neon letters RAGE remain.

Already a quarter century has passed since A Prayer for the Dying was first released, and I don't think age has been kind to either Mickey's character portrayal of an IRA bomber named Martin Fallon, nor to the films story line. I believe Mickey Rourke to be a fine actor whose body of work has been solid decade by decade. He is an actor that I look forward to seeing what he plans to do next. I just don't think this particular screen play was very realistic, so first rate actors such as Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, Liam Neeson and Alison Doody who had thought they had ordered top grade steak were served ground beef instead for the screenplay.

The movie is about Martin Fallon a cold hearted IRA bomber who hangs up his TNT after accidentally blowing up a school bus of children which was intended for another IRA target. Of course Martin Fallon is forced to come out of retirement for just one last hit which he completes for another mobster appropriately at a cemetery. Unfortunately Martin fails to see the priest Father Michael Da Costa who witnesses his assassination. The priest is played by the very versatile actor Bob Hoskins.

Yes, there was a steady stream of IRA villains planning other hits, the London Bobby's were continually chasing after the elusive IRA bomber Martin Fallon, the Irish mob wanting their own way, and the film even had a blind damsel in distress named Anna played by Sammi Davis who Martin Fallon falls in love with.

Even with all this potential, and actors of the highest caliber, the film lacked any depth of true characters or continuous suspense. Instead, I felt the movie just plodded on through out and left me half way through the film expecting little more to come of it other than a disappointing ending which was the case.

I give the film a rare 5 out of 10 only on the strength of Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins, otherwise my rating would have been even lower.

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.