Five Minutes of Heaven Movie Review

Directed by Oliver

Starring Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt

Release date Unknown

As good as Liam is I still dont think he gets enough credit for how good he really is. He can take an average movie and lift it up to something special or he can make a crappy movie seem decent. (excluding the new Star Wars prequels, nothing can save that!) So even though I had never heard of the movie I was still pretty stoked to see it. I almost watched the trailer but I decided to go into this blindly.

While I wouldnt say it was an excellent movie I still thought it was a very good indie drama. The movie starts with a recreation of a crime that took place 33 years earlier during one of the Protestant/Catholic wars in Ireland in the 70's. Alistair Little (Liams character) killed a young man named Jim Griffin in front of his little brother Joe (James Nesbitt). Little only got 12 years for the crime and both men (Little and Joe Griffin) have been living with this nightmare for their whole lives. The second part of the movie is the men getting ready to meet in front of a supervised television crew and confront each other after all these years. Alistair Little is truly repentant and looking forward to the meeting so both men can get on with their life. Joe Griffin on the other hand wants revenge and is contemplating killing Little once they meet.

The majority of the movie shows Joe nervous and edgy trying to prepare to meet his brother's killer. I think James Nesbitt does an admirable job portraying this. Im not use to the actor but in some scenes he come off kind of manic and comedic which threw me off a little. Of course Liam did an awesome job portraying a repentant killer that wants to do the best thing for everyone involved, especially Joe. The real strength of the movie is in the script. I really liked most of the dialogue and I think Joe's character was very realistic. Also I liked the restraint in dialogue once the men finally meet. The first half of the movie was kinda slow but picked up quickly when it flash forwarded to present day. Also the last act of the movie ended pretty strong. I admit I was a pussy and was fighting back some happy/sad tears. Nothing mind blowing but a strong entry into the genre. I definitely recommend for fans of indie drama. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a kicking a soccer ball against the wall, 7.2 out of 10.

Interviews about the film