Dead Shot

In November of 2013 i went my first trip to Ireland after having visited Scotland and England several times before that. The plan was to travel around Ireland a bit, but since i only stayed for about a week i only had time to visit certain places. I did enjoy my visit either way and especially while exploring the city of Dublin. There are so many historical events surrounding this city, and if you have time to visit museums you can actually learn quite a lot. I remember especially visiting the National Museum Of Ireland and learning about the historical events surrounding IRA ( Irish Republican Army ). If you plan to visit Dublin i strongly recommend that you visit the National Museum Of Ireland and i guarantee you will learn a lot of things you probably didn´t know. Of course you can read books about it or read about historical facts online, feel welcome to do so. But i promise you that this museum is really good and give the visitors a lot of very important historical facts. While i stayed in Dublin we did see certain buildings that are known for IRA connections in the past. If i go back to Dublin or Belfast sometime i plan to learn some more regarding IRA because there is a lot more to learn. Speaking of IRA and especially in films that bring up the subject, i have a personal favourite film i can watch over and over again. I have probably seen it at least 20 times since it came out in 1993 and that is the British biographical crime drama In The Name Of The Father from director Jim Sheridan. Based on the true story of Gerry Conlon, who were convicted on 22 October 1975 of planting two bombs a year earlier in the Surrey town of Guildford, which killed four people and injured dozens more. The four people where Gerry was included in the Guildford Four, they were all sentenced to life in prison. Over the years Gerry prostested that he was innocent. In the film In The Name Of The Father actor Daniel Day Lewis plays Gerry Conlon and it is one of his best acting performances ever. In The Name Of The Father is a really powerful film that will make you emotional. Just knowing that this actually happened makes the film even more fascinating. A must pick up on DVD or Blu Ray that deserves to be in your movie collection. While i was going through films on VOD i discovered a film called Dead Shot, an action drama that tells a story of IRA in 1975. With a cast of well known actors and a fascinating story included, is Dead Shot the film you should see this summer or should you head to the cinema  instead and watch Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts and get value for your money ?

A retired Irish paramilitary Michael O´Hara ( Colin Morgan ) witness the shooting of his pregnant wife by an SAS Officer Tempest ( Aml Ameen ) and escapes, wounded and is taken care of a family living on the countryside. Meanwhile he is presumed to be dead, and this give Michael a chance to travel to London to revenge the death of his wife.

Dead Shot is in no way nowhere near as good as In The Name Of The Father and i would never even claim that these films are connected in any way. The only connection both of these films have is that they do take place in 1975 in Ireland ( mostly in London ) but with completely different stories. Dead Shot is sort of a more traditional action drama that we have seen many times before, and if it wasn´t told from a historical time period this film might have been quite uninteresting. Because honestly if you look at Dead Shot from an action perspective there is not much here that you will remember this film for. The action scenes are not terrible in any way, but there are no action scenes that stick out from an ordinary action film. I would have liked more depth into the action scenes, where we can feel the emotional damage that caused so many people´s lives during this time period. We want to see the rage and sadness how people experienced the tragedies that took place. The one thing that does work in Dead Shot are some dramatic scenes, especially when we find ourselves in London on a mission. There are a couple of scenes where they actually manage to make some shorter suspensful moments. How is the acting in general? There are a few actors who do a good job and i am especially thinking about actress Felicity Jones ( who i especially remember her from On The Basis Of Sex, a must watch ) as the character Catherine. To be honest i would have liked more scenes focused more on her life because i find her fascinating. One of the stronger performances comes from actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor ( worth checking out in the 2017 horror film The Cured ) playing the character Keenan. The look of the 70´s actually looks good in this film with the right clothes, decorations and even the streets of London looks great designed to look like the 70´s. If you enjoy British action dramas then i think i could easily recommend this film. This film does have some flaws but is still enjoyable. Directors Charles Guard and Thomas Guard may not surprise us with Dead Shot but they have done a great looking action drama film. Tired of  another season of Antique Roadshow ? I suggest that you give the film Dead Shot a chance.

Rating: DDD