Michael Collins . Tucson Weekly . 10-31-96

Michael Collins

DIRECTED BY: Neil Jordan

REVIEWED: 10-31-96

A film that presents Neil Jordan's version of the controversial life and death of Michael Collins, a charismatic freedom fighter who led the IRA against the British in the early part of the century. Jordan, who also made The Crying Game and Mona Lisa, focuses on a much broader series of events here, giving us a wide, sweeping narrative that resembles nothing less than an old-fashioned war movie. The violence is graphic, and it's hard at times to sympathize with our hero, Michael Collins, appealingly played as he is by Liam Neeson, because his special gift in life seems to be terrorism. The British aren't any better, but those of us who aren't especially involved in the issues of Irish independence may find ourselves wishing that Jordan had brought the stakes and history of the fighting a little more to the fore. There's a silly love story with Julia Roberts thrown in for good measure, and lots of explosions, if you get bored of the male bonding.

--Stacey Richter

Other Films by Neil Jordan
In Dreams
Interview With the Vampire
The Butcher Boy
The End of the Affair

Film Vault Suggested Links
Washington Square
Jude
Amistad

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