'Four Lions' - Movie Review of the Unique Dark Comedy

The term "dark comedy" is often mis-used. It's frequently linked to comedies in which the lead characters are just despicable, but true black comedy is more than that. A truly dark comedy takes something that is in no way funny, in fact may be tragic or disturbing, and finds a way to make the viewer laugh at it. By that criteria "Four Lions" may be one of the blackest comedies ever produced. The film manages to tackle the frightening real world subject of Muslim suicide bombers in a way that is not only extremely witty but also remarkably respectful and thoughtful.

"Four Lions" tells the story of a small group of would be suicide bombers in London. All the members of the group are very serious about what it is they plan to do, they just really haven't got a clue as to how to best go about it. In the group there is the somewhat spastic Fessal (Adeel Akhar,) the kind hearted but slow witted Waj (Kayvan Novak,) and the borderline psychotic Barry (Nigel Lindsay.) Barry fancies himself the leader but his inability to keep a low profile and his insane notions (such as bombing a mosque) keep the others from following his lead. The only one in the group with anything resembling a clue is family man Omar (Riz Ahmed) who takes Waj with him to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Unfortunately things don't exactly go well for the pair at the camp but they return with even greater determination to carry out an attack. While they were away Barry recruited rap enthusiast Hassan (Asher Ali) into the group and the bunch set out to find the perfect target while evading the authorities.

Most of the humor of "Four Lions" stems from the incompetence of the characters. For example Fassel goes to buy chemicals for explosives from the same store every time and changes the tone of his voice to disguise himself but doesn't alter his appearance. Waj keeps screwing up the videos the group tries to make so they can claim responsibility after the bombings with his random tangential ramblings. Hassan brings a girl into the heart of their bomb making operation to play her some music he likes. And Barry simply can't keep his own anger issues under control for more than a few minutes, to the point that he actually punches himself in the face on purpose. However not all of the characters are shown to be outright stupid. Omar is the grounding force of the film, and the straight man of the group. He's a very reasonable human being who happens to be on a rather unusual quest. Omar's only problem is that he can't seem to catch a break and is left constantly cleaning up the messes left by the other four. All of the actors turn in solid performances, with Ahmed as Omar being the clear stand-out. He has the best chemistry with everybody in the film and all the other performers seem to be even better whenever they get to play off of him.

What may be most surprising about "Four Lions" is how respectful it is towards not only Muslims but even extremists. The film's humor depends the failings of its characters but never brings their motives or their cause into question or mocks their faith. And at the same time the movie makes a point of being clear that not all Muslims are terrorists and that not all terrorists are as moronic as this particular group. Actually the group that comes off the worst is the British authorities, whose racism and general ignorance is painted in much more broad strokes than is ever done with the lead characters. It's really a tribute to the sarcastic wit of co-writer/director Chris Morris that he was able to skewer such a serious topic yet be respectful towards it at the same time.

It should be said that underneath the humor, wit and even-handedness of "Four Lions" are some aspects that I personally found disturbing. Yet it's not disturbing in the way that most supposedly "edgy" films try to be. And it's probably something that won't strike most viewers right off, but it's something that's still with me even days after viewing the film. As mentioned the characters are shown not only in a sympathetic light but in fact some of them are shown to be genuinely good people, with good hearts. Barry could reasonably be called psychotic but the others, Omar in particular, are not the crazed religious nuts we've all rationalized suicide bombers to be. To me there is something deeply disturbing about seeing Omar, who is shown to be a wonderful and loving father and husband, having a life worth living and being so ready to sacrifice himself. The fact that both his wife and son know of his intentions and fully support him just make it all the more disturbing. But it's a subtle disturbing that creeps under the skin over time. To be clear I don't think it's a bad thing that this disturbed me so much, in fact it may be the greatest accomplishment of the film: that it disturbed me in a way that really just forced me to think differently. It's so easy to think of suicide bombers as essentially crazy people with nothing to lose. The idea of a suicide bomber with a happy home life and loving family just doesn't fit into the narrative most of us have created about the war on terror. Perhaps it takes a comedy to sneak these ideas at the public, because in a more dramatic presentation audiences would likely reject these notions out of hand.

Some viewers may actually be put off by the fact that while "Four Lions" is funny it's rarely laugh out loud hilarious. The laughs are consistent but there are few true gut-busting jokes. This actually makes the film difficult to dismiss as "just a comedy" which may be part of what disturbed me about it (again I say that in a positive way.) Those looking to just sit down, point at the screen and say "Look at those dumb terrorists" may want to pass this one by. There's that aspect to be sure but there's so much more that this film has on it's mind and it's presented in a way that viewers can't really ignore the deeper ideas, and those deeper ideas aren't exactly comfortable ones. In the end the film stands as a singular accomplishment that it works at all, much less as well as it does.

Final Score: 4.5 out of 5