Accelerator

Bunch of dublin scangers and their belfast scanger pals have a race from belfast to dublin , whoever gets to the pope's cross in the phoenix park first wins all the money (i think it's 1200 quid). We meet some interesting characters-wacker, who is the tough guy of the dublin gang and is an illiterate psychopath; crunchie, whose diet consists of nothing but crunchie bars (talk about product placement); anto who is a mellow myopic geek and is the most lovable of the characters; And Johnny T from belfast who is in a spot of trouble with the provos and wants to move to Barcelona. There isn't too much 'racing' in the film, it's more concerned with what happens to each car separately. Backed up by pounding factory beat type music and a spot of easy listening for anto of course. On the whole-deadly!Rapidd!! Leave your brain at your gaff and enjoy the ride 7/10

I saw this movie last Saturday at the UGC cinema, Dublin (as part of the Dublin Film Festival).

My comments?? Probably the best 87 minutes of movie-making magic in the past twenty years. Storyline, script, camera work, cast, inter-play of characters, production, directorship...and music.

Vinnie and Gang - you've done the Irish proud. If you haven't seen it yet - don't delay....you're in for the ride of you're life.

I've just seen the film in the city where it all begins (Belfast). Where to begin ? I got the strong feeling that the director (Vinny Murphy) knew how he wanted his film to end, but wasn't quite sure how to get there.

The first half of the film has a confused feel, almost lacking in direction, as it were. The acting was very patchy, almost embarrassing in places. But stick with it; as the action continues, the acting improves vastly, as does the direction. As the race (from Belfast to Dublin) progresses events take a surprising, and disturbing, turn for the worse...

A highly recommended insight into what is, effectively, another world. I look forward to Murphy's second film. Here's hoping it's in production as we speak.

Saw "Gone in Sixty Seconds" this week, one week after watching "Accelerator". Both films about stealing cars and driving very fast. But whereas this is only the beginning in Accelerator, GiSS never proceeds beyond that given. If you like Trainspotting, Bernie, Lock, Stock, go watch this film.

When after the first half you get the feeling this is Cannonball run without Burt Reynolds, the second half will seriously surprise you. This film is about pain, about lack of opportunity, about lack of control and about despair more than anything else, with some pretty great action sequences mixed in. The pace is stunning, and even in the more tranquil moments there is an underlying tension that holds you in its grip. Great film, best one sofar this year.

Yeah, I liked this movie. It's actually quite good. Strange that the DVD (region 2) I rented to watch it on kept returning to the menu after each chapter (on my Powerbook G3). I don't know whether other people have also experienced this problem, but it seriously detracted from the overall movie. The movie is great in itself though. It's somewhat of a realistic "Gone in 60 seconds" or a serious "Cannonball Run".