DVD OF THE WEEK

FOUR LIONS *****
Dir: Chris Morris. Starring: Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay

Chris Morris has long been at the forefront of British comedy, pioneering such television shows as The Week That Was, Brass Eye and the very peculiar Jam. He is a fearlessly intelligent satirist of both the media and subjects on the controversial edge of humour.
Now with his first foray into film he has again strayed into an area that some have found tasteless. Yes, this is a comedy about suicide bombers. Actually, five of the stupidest suicide bombers to ever set a timer. Morris spent two years researching and came to the conclusion that the dumb-assed British Muslims who launch themselves into careers as terrorists are just that – dumb-asses. He tells true stories in interviews that make everything in his film seem eminently sensible.
So here we have five disillusioned young radicals plotting… something. They're not quite sure what, but they want to blow up something. The result is an extraordinary film, incredibly funny – yes, I'd say this is the funniest thing I've seen since In The Loop – but with a subtle depth that is often missing even in good comedy. It kinda reminds me of Kick-Ass, in that Kick-Ass turned out to be so much better than just a superhero parody. This is just… so much better than you expect.
Don't be put off by the subject matter – after all, there have been comedies about all sorts of politically incorrect subjects. This is brilliant, brilliant stuff.

When a low-budget horror film makes a fortune at the box office there will be sequels. That honourable tradition – stretching from Halloween to The Blair Witch Project – continues in the form of Paranormal Activity 2 (***), and while the film ups its quota of camera angles from the minimalist original and even adds home video to the mix, its progression of things growing bumpy in the night is much the same, as a family are once again spooked by possibly demonic events. And, again, it's pretty creepy. And the sudden ending will – again – either shock or frustrate. And, of course, there's a third one on the way.

Julianne Moore suspects that flirty professorial hubby Liam Neeson is dallying with a pretty student so she hires a hooker to seduce him and tell her the details. As you do. Unsurprisingly, complications ensue. Said hooker is Chloe (****) and as one has come to expect from Canadian director Atom Egoyan, the film is a serious and mature study of human interaction as Moore, increasingly isolated from her husband and son, finds herself drawn towards the enigmatic and manipulative surrogate. Suspicions that things will not end happily are well-founded but this is classy, complex and involving stuff.

Takers (****) looks kinda ordinary but punches above its weight with a classy cast of street cred B-list faces and a story that pitches in somewhere between Heat and The Losers. Like Heat it follows a high-end gang of crims as they score with a major bank heist and aim to rob an armoured car, the police in close pursuit in the form of Matt Dillon. Unlike Heat, however, the family background of a couple of characters feels a little tacked on, but the set-pieces are duly spectacular and the whole double-crossing tale is a slickly-made bunch of upbeat fun.

The Rig (*) is simply awful. Clearly aiming for an ‘Alien on an oil rig' scenario it manages to fail in every possible area: the acting is blank, the dialogue is blandly risible and the required build-up of suspense non-existent. To add insult to injury, there clearly wasn't the budget to ever show you the beastie that is munching its way through the rig's crew. There are quite a few effective horror-quickies out there at the moment – this isn't one of them, lacking even a few ‘so bad it's good' moments.