Powerful

Brilliant and touching

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Wonderful cast in a film that could have used a better script. Timothy Spall's accent slippage irritated at times, though I realize how difficult the Northern Ireland accent is to imitate. There were many contrivances, a walk in the forest, in a church, in a graveyard to force the final outcome of peace. And I was astonished that the retaliative murders by the RUC got short shrift versus the bombings and killings of the IRA. 6/10

I don't know much about Martin McGuiness but if what a previous reviewer claims about the two protagonists being so faithful to their subjects is true, I now have a better idea, as I'm a big fan of Colm Meany. The dialogue between the men is necessarily historic conjecture, but I would well agree that it was McGuiness who broke the ice and made the necessary concessions, and who better than Colm to pull it off. If snakes ever invade the Emerald Isle, 'twill be himself that charms them out. (Mind you, I'm not nominating him for sainthood!)

"These two are the Troubles." The "two" are Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the leader of the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party, and Martin McGuiness (Colm Meaney), Sinn Fein politician and IRA operative, traveling together in a fictional hour of two-handed politics, whose interaction had the outcome of peace. The Journey, meticulously directed by Nick Hamm, is superb filmmaking that illuminates history and showcases transcendent acting.Facing off each other with Paisley's accurate condemnation of IRA violence and McGuiness's hatred of Paisley's rigid evangelical Protestantism, the two in the van on the way to the Glasgow airport dance around each other as they figure out how to survive their own arrogance and win a peace. But as we know, an accord was made back then that ended 40 years of bloodshed and a unified Northern Ireland under the combined leadership of both men.Although actors like Toby Stephens as Tony Blair and John Hurt as Harry Patterson could command any screen at any time, Spall and Meaney are so believable as to make you forget all other performances. Their job to let you see the growing friendship by small increments is marvelous to behold.Applause, too, must be given for a production design that commands maximum intimacy and suspenseful plot distribution: The interior of the van becomes an intimate drawing room with no diplomats or functionaries to distract from the plan at hand; the brief time to get to the airport has the properties of a digital readout in a heist movie—everyone is aware that the handshake may not happen if the van gets to the plane on time or too late.The Journey is required for those who love first-rate acting and those who want to feel history in the making. For anyone else, it is the antidote to the summer blockbuster.

I Looked forward to seeing The Journey ...But What a waste of time that was. This film should have been the monumental change in the NI series of movies. But unfortunately Nick Hamms jittery direction and lack of depth to supporting characters along with Batemans almost Monty Pythonesque silly script gave us what we should now call the Norn Oirish silly road movie genre. Ill not go into spoilers there were a few good lines By Paisley gags from Blair and McGuinness With the audience Feeling sorry for Spall and Meaney for trying to deal with this utter nonsense along with pop culture being Flung at us at every corner and sentence that Bateman could muster gently forcing the titters and groans from the faithful few. I then tried to gee myself up and wonder how I would have done this differently, the answer I eventually decided on was ....I wouldn't.... Hamm was given a dodgy script and tried his best to make that good and that was a tall order. They had a responsibility to tell a tail which changed the face of a country and they gagged it up and failed miserably.