Michael Collins Reviews

This is Neil Jordan's screen biography about the founder of the IRA, an intellectual who virtually invented urban terrorism and bombed his way to talks in Downing Street before being assassinated by his own side in 1922. The movie begins with an impressively filmed Easter uprising, in which Jordan appears to demolish Dublin, yet there's also an even-handedness when it comes to depicting and simplifying the political struggle for Irish independence. As Collins, Liam Neeson fills a room with his charm and menace, while Alan Rickman is superbly cast as Eamon De Valera, a fanatic in pebble glasses. Julia Roberts, however, looks wispy and hopelessly lost, the victim of a crass casting decision made in the hope of boosting the box office.

Effective and dramatic political drama that simplifies the facts and has at its centre a glaring gap Ð Collins's negotiations with the British Ð into which the narrative unfortunately collapses.

"...Intelligent, enormously accomplished....Menges' images are seriously artful yet tremendously vital, and it is great to see a master doing what he does best..."

This is Neil Jordan's screen biography about the founder of the IRA, an intellectual who virtually invented urban terrorism and bombed his way to talks in Downing Street before being assassinated by his own side in 1922. The movie begins with an impressively filmed Easter uprising, in which Jordan appears to demolish Dublin, yet there's also an even-handedness when it comes to depicting and simplifying the political struggle for Irish independence. As Collins, Liam Neeson fills a room with his charm and menace, while Alan Rickman is superbly cast as Eamon De Valera, a fanatic in pebble glasses. Julia Roberts, however, looks wispy and hopelessly lost, the victim of a crass casting decision made in the hope of boosting the box office.

Effective and dramatic political drama that simplifies the facts and has at its centre a glaring gap Ð Collins's negotiations with the British Ð into which the narrative unfortunately collapses.

"...Intelligent, enormously accomplished....Menges' images are seriously artful yet tremendously vital, and it is great to see a master doing what he does best..."

Writer/director Jordan's film tracing the career of Irish Republican hero Michael Collins, from the Easter Rising to... read more on Time Out

"...A classic performance [from Neeson]....[Roberts is] charming..." -- Rating: B+

"...A passionate, probing epic..."