In film school, writers and directors are often told to work with material with which they're somehow personally familiar, which should result in their work feeling more authentic. While we don't know if writer/director John Boorman ever took a rafting trip that led to a bad encounter with a bunch of backwoods rednecks ("Deliverance"), and it's most certain he didn't personally know King Arthur & Merlin ("Excalibur"), it has been reported that his house was actually burglarized by the subject of his latest film, "The General."
Little known outside his native Ireland, Martin Cahill was the most notorious and easily the most charismatic criminal of the late 1980's and early 90's. Assassinated by the IRA after he got too involved in their drug dealings (a business that this film doesn't full explore), Cahill wasn't a murderer, but instead kept his lawbreaking activities limited to grand robberies and thumbing his nose at the police and any other establishments.
Although Boorman doesn't readily make it known how he felt about being one of Cahill's "victims," he's certainly delivered an interesting, but not quite spectacular retelling of the thief's life. Shot in wide-screen black and white -- which gives the film a gritty, documentary feel -- Boorman doesn't deliver a full-blown bio-epic, but instead focuses on Cahill's better known exploits, including the ingenious heists of a wholesale jeweler and the theft of many rare paintings from a tightly protected collection.
As brilliantly played by Brendan Gleeson ("I Went Down," "Braveheart"), Cahill is portrayed as a charismatic, carefree family man who could turn ruthlessly violent given the necessary catalyst. While the film doesn't completely glamorize the thief's notoriety -- the violent outbursts (including a difficult to watch pool table crucifixion of sorts) prevent the audience from getting too wrapped up in his exploits -- he is given something of the Robin Hood treatment.
Despite occasionally bearing an uncanny resemblance to the late Benny Hill -- but reportedly also doing the same to the real McCoy, or, in this case, the real Cahill -- Gleeson delivers a standout performance that should win him many accolades along with more significant and high profile parts later in his career. Perfectly playing both sides of the robber's coin -- the carefree family man and the brilliant, and occasionally violent mastermind behind his gang's many heists -- Gleeson is always engaging in the role.
The supporting performances are fine across the board, with Adrian Dunbar ("The Crying Game") and Sean McGinley ("The Butcher Boy") solid as Martin's right-hand men, and Maria Doyle Kennedy and Angeline Ball (both from the fabulous "The Commitments") decent as Martin's wife and sister-in-law.
My biggest disappointment, however, was that Eamon Owens (who was frighteningly good in "The Butcher Boy") didn't get more screen time as the young Martin. While Boorman obviously wanted to keep his focus on the robber's later day exploits, the few scenes with Owens depict what could have been some powerful and fascinating early moments in Cahill's life -- events that presumably would have better explained the how's and why's of whom he later became.
On the plus side, Jon Voight (re-teamed with Boorman from "Deliverance") finally gets to play the "good guy" after a recent turn playing big screen villains, and inhabits a part similar in tone to that of Inspector Javert (the officer pursuing Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables") who makes it his near lifelong quest to capture the criminal.
While Voight is very good in his more restrained role, the part and the film somewhat suffer from the lack of significant screen time for his character, as well as any well conceived, outright conflict with his nemesis. Some of that does partially exist at times, but a more thorough fleshing out of his character would have added a greater dimension to the film, as well as better "battle of the wits" scenes between the two.
That pretty much sums up the film's greatest problem. Despite the fine ensemble acting and Gleeson's tremendous lead performance, the picture -- while good and easy to watch -- never quite grabs you by the collar and pulls you into the story. Instead, the audience watches in joint amusement and disgust at the thief's exploits, but never gets fully entranced by, or wrapped up in the proceedings.
Even so, there's enough here to keep the viewer interested, despite the fact that we know right from the beginning how the film's going to end (his assassination bookends the story). Filled with enough "fun" scenes depicting the criminals pulling off their carefully orchestrated heists, the use of alibis and decoys -- all of which are always favorites amongst fans of this sort of story -- along with a stellar performance from Gleeson, the film is never boring, but lacks the necessary and collective oomph to really take off. Good, but not as great as it might have been, we give "The General" a 7 out of 10.