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Incendiary

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Incendiary (2008)

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Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:5

Rotten:16

Average Rating:3.8/10

Consensus: A solid performance from Michelle Williams isn’t enough to save this well meaning, but disappointing, cliché ridden drama.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on a novel released two days before the London bombings, Incendiary is a contemporary portrait of England that deftly interweaves tragedy, sex, politics, and the grief emanating from a... Based on a novel released two days before the London bombings, Incendiary is a contemporary portrait of England that deftly interweaves tragedy, sex, politics, and the grief emanating from a suicide terrorist attack on a London soccer stadium. Directed with dispatch and clarity by Sharon Maguire (in a complete departure from her previous feature, Bridget Jones's Diary), Incendiary is a multilayered chronicle of one woman's life (she is superbly played by Michelle Williams) and the way it is utterly transformed in the course of a single afternoon. What might have been just a momentary tryst with a sexy journalist (Ewan MacGregor) who lives across the road is forever changed by the broadcast of the terrorist explosion and her flash of realization that her husband and son, who are attending the match, are probably victims. While she tries to deal with her guilt and despair, her life unravels even further as she seeks answers and a degree of consolation and discovers new relationships in a world turned upside down, one that both reveals and covers up the truth about the day's events. As much a commentary on modern life and politics as a personal chronicle, Incendiary is an ever-evolving, wonderfully unpredictable cinematic experience that captures the ambivalent nature of today's world--moral contradictions and all--even as it searches for a road to personal salvation. -- © Sundance Film Festival [More]

Starring: Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, Matthew MacFadyen

Starring: Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, Matthew MacFadyen

Director: Sharon Maguire, Anand Tucker

Director: Sharon Maguire
Producer: Andy Paterson
Director: Anand Tucker
Producer: Adrienne Maguire

[See More Credits]

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Release:

May 5, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • London is rocked by a shocking terrorist bombing in this dramatic thriller starring Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy, Brokeback Mountain) and Ewan McGregor, (Trainspotting, the Star Wars trilogy). Williams delivers a riveting and heart-felt performance as a young wife and mother who suffers a devastating loss in the attack...which occurs while she's meeting her secret lover (McGregor). Wracked with guilt and trying to piece her shattered life back together, she becomes embroiled in the police investigation of the attack - and discovers that the authorities will do anything to cover up the terrifying truth behind it.
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    Reviews for Incendiary

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    1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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    By then, Incendiary has become a tear-stained monologue about bereavement and resilience – it goes off with a bang, but ends with a whimper.

    Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Chris Hicks
    Chris Hicks
    Total Film

    Williams is magnificent in her role -- though they beat the living hell out of her, to a point where it almost becomes ridiculous.

    Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
    02/01/08
    Erik Davis
    Erik Davis
    Cinematical

    Michelle William's riveting performance as the young mother makes it imminently watchable.

    Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment 1 Comment
    01/28/08
    James Greenberg
    James Greenberg
    Hollywood Reporter

    But it maintains its connection with us through Williams' fiercely open-hearted portrayal of a woman losing her grip on her life. And this is just emotional and offbeat enough to make the film worth a look.

    Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Rich Cline
    Rich Cline
    Shadows on the Wall

    It’s an atmospheric drama and a strong turn from Williams, but doesn’t tell us anything about ourselves or the terrorists that we didn’t already know.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    William Thomas
    William Thomas
    Empire Magazine

    A silly tale involving an unbelievably young top anti-terror cop, an unrealistic journalist, laughable imaginary letters to Bin Laden and a far-fetched friendship between the mum and the bomber’s son.

    Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Sun Online

    If a member of cast could save a film, Michelle Williams would be the person to hire, since her central performance in this muddle of a movie is the only thing that stops it being unwatchable.

    Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
    07/02/09
    Amber Wilkinson
    Amber Wilkinson
    Eye for Film

    Were it not for Williams's Oscar-quality performance, all the more remarkable for the shambolic incompetence that surrounds her, this would be a turkey.

    Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Christopher Tookey
    Christopher Tookey
    Daily Mail [UK]

    It ends up being a compendium of bizarre diversions, most of which are utterly surplus to the film’s half-cocked desire to stick with the experience and emotions of its main character.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Dave Calhoun
    Dave Calhoun
    Time Out

    It’s only Williams who gives the film any life but, in the face of these odds, even she’s helpless to save it from a one-star rating.

    Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    David Edwards
    David Edwards
    Daily Mirror [UK]

    While individual scenes work well, the whole simply defies belief. And, because of this, the final polemic which suggests that London, constantly renewing itself, will never be defeated, simply appears hopelessly sentimental.

    Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Derek Malcolm
    Derek Malcolm
    This is London

    A promising opening and a stunning performance from Michelle Williams are not enough to rescue a film that jumps restlessly from genre to genre without doing justice to any of its individual stories.

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Jamie McLeish
    Jamie McLeish
    Channel 4 Film

    a well-made film featuring good actors and which tells an intimate story, but which tries to do too much and collapses under the weight of its own aspirations

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    05/01/09
    Jason McKiernan
    Jason McKiernan
    Filmcritic.com

    Aspires to so much it ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    02/05/08
    John Anderson
    John Anderson
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Michelle Williams is a fine and versatile actor but even she has her limits and is never really convincing as a working-class Londoner struggling with guilt and grief.

    Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Karl French
    Karl French
    Financial Times

    The movie plunges straight down that treacherous black hole that exists between fact and fiction and the inability to replicate either.

    Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Kevin Maher
    Kevin Maher
    Times [UK]

    A big-hearted, well-intentioned but ultimately overstretched adaptation.

    Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Peter Bradshaw
    Peter Bradshaw
    Guardian [UK]

    Bridget Jones’s (Incend)Diary, Maguire is to be commended for attempting a contemporary terrorist drama, but seems more comfortable in the big-knickered North London fantasy world.

    Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Rob Daniel
    Rob Daniel
    Sky Movies

    After that, cliché piles upon cliché, interspersed with moments of wild unreality and some ill-thought out conspiracy theory. It makes you feel embarrassed for everyone involved.

    Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Robert Hanks
    Robert Hanks
    Independent

    London is bombed and contrives to be less recognisable than it's ever been on film, full of people who don't look, act or even speak like Londoners.

    Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
    10/24/08
    Tim Robey
    Tim Robey
    Daily Telegraph
     
     
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