Four Lions goes out of its way to tell us that not everyone is born a terrorist, nor are those that receive the proper training necessarily cut out to make it their career choice.
As the film opens ‘amateur back room’ terrorists argue about how to go about making the perfect menacing terrorist video to strike fear into the community and guarantee maximum media coverage. The scene is pretty funny and elicits a chuckle or two, but it has already been done – better – on Family Guy many years ago.
Shortly afterwards two of the four wannabes head to Pakistan for some old fashioned terrorist training from the ‘experts’ in the field, only to have their pilgrimage of sorts abruptly ended when an impromptu attack on the infidel pigs flying overhead goes spectacularly awry.
Again, not bad. Again, Naked Gun and Hot Shots have done it better – and if those are the films that Four Lions aspire to resemble is that high praise?
The central premise is that these four guys are dumb. If botching a terror Youtube upload and accidentally killing a few Pakistanis wasn’t evidence enough, consider this:
– One of the terrorists thinks a chicken is ‘a rabbit with no ears’.
– Another attempts to hide his identity when purchasing bulk items to use in creating explosives from the same store by disguising his voice. He gives three examples – all are exactly the same. As in exactly.
– When one guy mimes a phone call using his finger, the ‘which came first, the chicken or the rabbit?’ guy asks “Who is on the phone”.
We get it. They’re dumb. This is supposed to be blackly amusing as they inadvertently blow themselves and others up.
It is supposed to be hilarious when they exhibit not one trait necessary in Terrorist Efficiency 1A aside from being right keen.
The fact that one of the foursome is white which impels him to try all the more hard to prove he is ‘for the cause’ is supposed to shock and astonish.
I am supposed to be racially, ethnically or religiously insensitive when I claim this is not very good and definitely not funny.
Furthermore if I say it isn’t as clever or brave as it thinks it is, doesn’t touch on any particularly touchy subjects, primarily religion (not that I can blame it) and is little more than a gee aren’t those terrorists dumb. I am missing the point.
Well might I point out that Super Troopers made the same film more or less with dumb traffic cops doing dumb stuff. That was no classic either, but it made me laugh a few times.
Four Lions couldn’t manage that.
Final Rating – 6 / 10. Someone with something to hide might say “I’m not racist but…” before giving their opinion. I have nothing to hide. Four Lions is a pretty bland movie built around one hook which dodges the sensitive issues.
Not liking it doesn’t make you less of a person, it might just make you more of a discerning judge of movies.
