Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of Das Experiment and The Invasion, takes the helm for this film about a killer who dares not seek forgiveness, and another who feels incapable of granting it. The political divide in Ireland runs as far as it does deep. Alistair (Liam Neeson) and Joe (James Nesbitt) each stand on opposing sides of that gaping chasm. Alistair killed Joe's brother, and for than man who's lost family, absolution simply isn't an option. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The movie might have been more tense had it been a little more quiet. Neeson and Nesbitt, however, are so good that narrative hiccups never threaten to lose us...
So many movies set in Northern Ireland are about the Troubles that we might justifiably ask, why another? Five Minutes of Heaven is far from the best of the breed, but it does at least take a new tack.
It's an original movie idea that feels written for the stage, all the more so since so much of our attention is diverted to admiring how the actors act, in roles with a high degree of technical difficulty.
Early scenes set up the tragedy, but the majority of Oliver Hirschbiegel's movie is set in a TV studio where the two eventually face each other, and the tension, unfortunately, quickly becomes stagey.
Un drama reflexivo y quizás alegórico sobre las heridas que permanecen años después de un conflicto como el de Irlanda del Norte. Sus dos principales actores salen airosos de las quizás inevitables simplificaciones del guión.
Acclaimed director Oliver Hirschbiegel gives us much more than we expect in a complex and superbly executed film, whose subject matter may be specific but whose themes of humanity are universal
[T]his difficult, uncomfortable film... deconstructs the notion of what 'evil' is... Subtle and sharp in how it turns over notions of revenge and grief, forgiveness and empathy, compassion and understanding...
This talky little drama about two men *not* meeting is exceedingly well-written and very efficiently made, with surprisingly good mood-setters and dramatic deflections
It's easy to see what attracted Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt (Bloody Sunday) to Prime Suspect veteran Guy Hibbert's screenplay: it's an actor's showcase.
I originally thought that this was going to be just another one of those Northern Ireland in religious turmoil movies....but it wasn't. The concept of this movie dealing with the after effects of the senseless killings that went on is really original. I found this movie very interesting. Liam Neeson is wonderful in it,
as usual, which really was a plus.
Or how to turn an interesting premise into such an insipid film, Five minutes Of heaven is just as shallow & simple-minded as Little's preachy monologue in front of the camera, Vengeance, Guilt, ... nothing is portrayed well here, Little is supposed to be a man who feels some sort of guilt but Neeson basically plays a
zombie, sometimes you wonder if he actually believes in what he is saying or he is just selling his preachings and Nesbitt on the other hand overacts a bit, Overall the film sometimes exaggerates like the whole thing with the mother blaming everything on the kid and downplays it when it should depict more, And yeah Griffin is suddenly moved by Little's one sentence?, It's a huge disappointment specially for the director of "Downfall" & "the Experiment"
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