Four Lions (2010)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 124
Fresh: 101 | Rotten: 23
Its premise suggests brazenly tasteless humor, but Four Lions is actually a smart, pitch-black comedy that carries the unmistakable ring of truth.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 9
Its premise suggests brazenly tasteless humor, but Four Lions is actually a smart, pitch-black comedy that carries the unmistakable ring of truth.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 21,185
My Rating
Movie Info
A handful of young men set out to take on the decadent West but are more of a threat to themselves than anyone else in this black comedy from director Chris Morris. Omar (Riz Ahmed) is a devout Muslim living in the United Kingdom who has decided to form a terrorist cell to bring forth a jihad against a culture he believes is dominated by the sinful and ignorant. However, Omar isn't much of leader, and he's assembled an unimpressive team of fellow terrorists, among them Waj (Kayvan Novak), who
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Cast
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Rizwan Ahmed
Omar -
Arsher Ali
Hassan -
Nigel Lindsay
arry, Barry -
Kayvan Novak
Waj -
Adeel Akhtar
Faisal -
Benedict Cumberbatch
Negotiator -
Julia Davis
Alice -
Craig Parkinson
Matt -
Preeya Kalidas
Sofia -
Wasim Zakir
Ahmed -
Mohammad Aqil
Mahmood
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Four Lions Trailer & Photos
All Critics (125) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (104) | Rotten (23) | DVD (6)
[Morris's] new comedy has a provocative, ticklish premise -- five North England Muslims become suicide bombers, but can't decide who or what to take with them.
Top CriticIt's difficult to imagine a movie this boldly provocative about the underworld of violent jihad, much less one that actually inspires laughter.
The first feature, written and directed by satirist Chris Morris, may seem profane to some, but if you're doomed by watching it, at least you'll go down laughing.
A dark farce sitting somewhere between "Dr. Strangelove" and "Duck Soup." It will blow you away.
The film wisely doesn't try to explore the roots of religious fanaticism and how it can manifest as murder: Instead, it simply accepts the world as it is and focuses on the ridiculous.
Four Lions is more interesting than riotous. Consider it an example - a well-paced, clever and understated compassionate example - of a filmmaker wrestling with fear.
Home-grown jihadists as wankers. How very British.
... A welcome antidote to cultural hysteria.
Writer-director Chris Morris walks that razor-fine line separating comedy and tragedy by mocking terrorists without mocking the horrors of terrorism itself.
Four Lions doesn't always reach satirical perfection, but it comes fairly close.
[It is] a biting, laugh-out-loud funny satire that dares to poke fun at Jihadi terrorists and one of the blackest, funniest comedies in recent memory.
Four Lions is merciless in its mission to find humor where few would dare seek it.
The comedy is as black as can be, both silly and sharp ... It just doesn't quite succeed in its Dr. Strangelove-inspired goal.
Is it insensitive? Jaw-droppingly so. But it's also tremendously funny, and after years of achingly serious movies about the War on Terror, it can't help but feel cathartic to unleash a few belly laughs at the whole mess.
The amount of edge to this edgy comedy and Morris's chutzpah for demanding that the film's tone and its uneasy ending remain intact throughout the film's financing.
If the things we fear most are the best fodder for black comedy (think Dr. Strangelove) then Four Lions, a veritable Three Stooges-esque comedy about Westernized jihadis, is on fertile soil indeed.
Chris Morris's jet-black farce maintains a queasy balance between character-based comedy and incisive political commentary for its entire running time.
The overall result is decidedly uneven: there's most certainly something for everyone but the lack of an overarching vision is readily apparent.
Audience Reviews for Four Lions
Don't get me wrong, 'Four Lions' had me laughing at some of it's jokes, but the serious turns its took at the end felt unneeded and quite frankly, desperate, trying to get a reaction from the audience as the main character martyr themselves, main characters that throughout the film I felt no empathy for, so why should I care?
'Four Lions' had what it needed to be good, a new innovative premise and the cast to do it, what it came up with was a cheap anything for laughs (oh wait we're serious now but no we're not?), uneven mess.
Super Reviewer
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- Barry: He disrupted the establishment.
- Omar: How?!
- Barry: He Took out a sheep.
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- Waj: Rubber dinghy rapids, bro.
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- Faisal: I've got this plan right? I'm gonna put a bomb on a crow, then fly it into one of them towers filled with Jews and slags.
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- Barry: They'll pump you full of Viagra. Make you fuck a dog!
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- Waj: I'm not confused brother! I just took picture of my face, and it's deffo not my confused face.
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- Negotiator: The report makes crystal clear that the police shot the right man, but as far as I'm aware, the wrong man exploded. Is that clear?
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Foreign Titles
- We Are Four Lions (FR)
