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The General (1998)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 7

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 3,066

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Movie Info

John Boorman, who won the 1998 Cannes Film Festival's Direction award for this film, previously won the same Cannes award almost three decades earlier for his Leo the Last (1969) about an alienated aristocrat in a London slum. Shot in widescreen color (but printed in sharp black-and-white), The General is a biographical portrait of ruthless Irish crime lord Martin Cahill, shot down outside his home by a single assassin on August 18, 1994. After this opening, the film then unfolds as a lengthy

R, 2 hr. 4 min.

Drama

Directed By: John Boorman

Written By: John Boorman

In Theaters: Dec 18, 1998 Wide

On DVD: Jul 20, 1999

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

Critic Reviews for The General

All Critics (54) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (7) | DVD (8)

Enjoyable for what it is; problem is, what it is doesn't amount to much in the end.

May 3, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com

| Comment

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Neither Boorman's cinematic expertise nor Gleeson's canny performance is enough to make us care about Cahill's destruction.

July 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

| Comment

Judith Egerton

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

The most lyric crime picture since Band of Outsiders, with a sublime performance by Gleeson at its core.

July 4, 2004 Comment

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS) Source: F5 (Wichita, KS)

The film glides on seriocomic wings and whisks us rapturously away. It ranks with Boorman's own classic crime film Point Blank (1967), and that's high praise.

July 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

A well-made film, but a hard one to actually like.

February 3, 2003 Comment

Luke Y. Thompson

New Times

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The General

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John Boorman is an underrated director. Tell me the creators of The Sopranos didn't screen this.It's not perfect, in fact some of it is pretty tired - but it's got enough interesting stuff and Brendan Gleeson's portrayal of the Dublin crime cheiftan is powerful and exciting.

November 9, 2007

Bob Stinson

Super Reviewer

A thief, pursued by an old friend from the neighborhood, evades the cops and the IRA.Brendan Gleeson is fantastic as the eponymous character; he's both awkward and wily, not looking the part of the thief but pulling it off believably. The rest of the supporting cast supports Gleeson admirably, but even Jon Voight

December 5, 2011