Movie Review: '71 (2015) - Ireland in the 70's, what could possibly go wrong then?

I feel like every time I wanna try to get back into doing reviews, I either get really busy or really sick. I’m still also debating going into rehab for WoW, but I’m still on the part of the addiction where I’m having too much fun with it so that will most likely have to wait. Another fun fact, I was originally going to review another movie today, but I ended missing my bus going to the theatre, which also might have been closed but I wasn’t able to confirm that fact so I ended up at ‘71 instead. Also yes that’s how the movie’s name is spelled.

Before i get into the review, I feel like I have to explain the setting of the story since it’s based on true events. Now, I only have a basic knowledge of it, so if I get some details of it wrong I apologize, but it basically goes like this.

1919 - 1922: The Irish Republican Army is formed during the Irish war of independence against Britain.

1922 - 1969: The IRA performs a long string of violence and terrorists attacks in both until the group split in 1969.

1969 - 1971: Now named The Official Irish Republican Army, the goal of the group was to have Ireland removed from the United Kingdom. They attempted to do this by both attacking and defending themselves against british soldiers. In fighting also occurs between the british loyal protestant Irish and the catholic IRA, itself split up into two factions.

Now, we can go to the Plot Summary.

Plot Summary: Teenager Gary Hook has enlisted in the British Army, and his first posting is to Belfast during the midst of the war with the IRA. After attempting to help the police search houses, Hook gets separated from his squad and must try and find safety while avoiding IRA forces wanting him dead.

Pros - The film is beautifully shot, as it manages to capture the darkness of that point of Ireland’s history and express that in the cinematography. The film is also well acted, with special mention going out to Corey McKinley only credited as loyalist child. He’s in the movie briefly but my god does he manage to use that time wisely. Jack O’Connell is also wonderful as Hook, managing to capture that perfect mixture of soldier calmness and youthful terror at the depth of the situation that he finds himself in.

Cons - There’s really only two kind of glaring issues with the film. One: characters are sporadically introduced properly. I didn’t even know Hook’s name until about halfway through the film. Two: The story does get a bit confusing, but I’m not sure if that is supposed to be intentional or not giving how one of the themes in the film is supposed be about how the whole war was in reality one giant chaotic mess.

Final Score - 9/10

Normally a film like this would end up at a 8, however, and I didn’t want to list this as either a negative or a positive, when it was over I found myself for some reason thinking that this was the film that American Sniper should have been, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t even based on a true story. I guess after being disappointed by it I needed something to fill that void. Go figure.

There’s three films that I might do next, and these are them in order of eagerness to see: It Follows, Furious 7, Woman in Gold. Expect one of those three.

Until next time, i’ll see you folks at the movies.