A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

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

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Bloody streets of Belfast, lives that resemble a terrifying dream and people both Catholic and Protestants caught in this seemingly endless madness. You must be one or the other, no room left for undecided. Having any doubts means betrayal, and betrayal means death, sometimes swift, sometimes painfully slow. "Shadow Dancer", an uncomfortable, but nevertheless brilliant movie. There is a family, broken, and people in this family not just broken, almost shattered. No loyalty must come before loyalty to faith and nationality. So, things you were born with, things you didn't earn or deserve are the most important things in your life. Ergo, these are their destinies. Like some twisted, bad lottery, the one you pray not to win.

"Shadow Dancer" from 2012 stars Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, and Gillian Anderson. I'm not sure what the situation with this movie was because it only made $400,000.The movie takes place in Belfast, and in the first scene, a young girl, Collette, is told by her father to buy him some cigarettes. She doesn't want to go, so instead, she sends her little brother Sean.The action then shifts to 1993, and we see the adult Collette (Riseborough) deliberately leaving her purse in the London tube; as she escapes from the tube, she is arrested. An MI-5 agent, Mac (Owen) offers her a deal -- no prison time if she will become an informant and at the end of her time working for him, a new identity. Because she has a young son, she agrees.Mac ultimately learns that his superior (Anderson) is using Collette as a red herring to protect her own mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find out who the mole is and remove Collette from a dangerous situation.This movie is sparse on dialogue and, frankly, action, particularly at the beginning as we see Collette on what seems to be an endless train ride and finally dropping her purse. After that, things pick up. The cinematography is dreary, with Ireland looking like it's one step up from a trailer park in most scenes.Andrea Riseborough, who can be beautiful and glamorous, is photographed harshly here, and she's excellent as a young woman caught in the nightmare of having to betray her brothers and answer to their trigger-happy leader Kevin (David Wilmot) and to Mac. She is natural and realistic in underplaying the role of a young Irish girl under incredible tension. Owen is good as the protective Mac, tough and persuasive.The big problem is the lack of family connection, that is, Collette's relationship with her worried mother and her brothers, who are entrenched in a violent world. Shadow Dancer concentrates on the relationship between Mac and Collette, where showing more within the family would have brought us into the film more deeply.We're led to believe certain things in "Shadow Dancer," and it's not until the end of the movie that we realize what a good script it was, and how well it is directed by James Marsh.A sober movie showing the impact of violence and stress on one family.

Set during the start of the 90s Irish peace process, an active member of the IRA is forced to become an informant for the MI5 after they use her young son as bait. She moves back home to Belfast and reimmerses herself into the world of violence and terrorism, all the while worried for her – and her son's – safety, in case she gets found out.Movies about the IRA, and The Troubles in general, always interest me. I think it's because that whole period is based in a country so close to me, about a time so close to me, that it resonates. So I was quite pleased when 'Shadow Dancer' arrived on my desk. And, for the most, I was quite impressed by this British movie.Problem is that it's not the actual story I was impressed by. It's not bad, to be fair of it. This is set at a time when the Troubles were coming to an end, so the portrayal of how this causes fractions in an Irish family is an intelligent and somewhat fresh one. However, despite the very good actors playing the family (Riseborough, Gillen, Gleeson, Brennan), I just never feel emotionally attached to them. The ending is a very powerful one, but it's more the visceral impact than the emotional one which stuck with me.What actually impressed me was Andrea Riseborough's performance. As she demonstrated in Madonna's 'W.E.', Riseborough has the ability to be brilliant in average films. Okay, 'Shadow Dancer' is a bit better than average, but she was so much better than the film deserved. From her very first scene, where the camera follows her along a train journey, the silence of it all permeated by a very expressive face, she commands the show. Clive Owen tries hard to keep up and, while he's also very good, he's no match for her. Everyone else has too undeveloped a role to really get invested in, which is a shame.'Shadow Dancer' is a great movie for those of you who love meaty characters, power shifts and twists and turns. The execution isn't perfect, but this film has all of that. But why you should really want to watch this is if you like seeing a powerhouse performance from one of the best British actresses of recent times.

This movie is based on the novel by well known journalist (in the U.K.) Tom Bradby, who also wrote the screenplay. It's a dark thriller that runs a mere 100 minutes, unusually short for the genre; but it still manages to work, without as much of the character and relationship development I would have enjoyed seeing expanded. Bradby has had all the firsthand experience and knowledge on the subject, covering the Northern Ireland goings-on in the 1990's. He skillfully wrote a screenplay that is apolitical, yet retains convincing elements necessary for the movie to be a genuine thriller. The cast was well chosen and the ensemble delivers the goods without reproach.The opening of the movie brings important context to what will follow next in the movie. It 1973 Belfast, during 'The Troubles', we see young Collette witness the tragedy of the times when her younger brother is killed, collateral damage, and how she is moved by the event. Maria Laird who plays young Collette is an actress I look forward to seeing again soon. Then we fast forward to 1993 when Collette, played by Andrea Riseborough, is now an IRA member; she is apprehended when she planted a bomb in the London Underground, but the IRA doesn't know that for sure. Enters Mac, MI 5 agent played by Clyve Owen, who turns Collette informant. Unbeknownst to Mac, Collette's MI 5 mission is to protect a mole they have in the IRA; Kate Fletcher, played by Gillian Anderson, is Mac's superior but she does not share the information about the existence of a mole, which is something he has to dig up himself, if he's to ensure the protection of Collette. The drama then unfolds. The thriller has just one real twist, but it is a startling one at the end.I have to warn audiences about the very poor audio levelling in the movie. You see, there are two very critical and short pieces of dialogue without which it will be virtually impossible to understand the movie's denouement. So if you see the movie on DVD/BlueRay or some other device that has pause and rewind features, you'll be fine; you can play back and jack up the volume for those two moments, and you'll know I'm sure when those are. I never get how sound editors can miss that sort of stuff, that which can kill the viewing enjoyment. I'm very glad I didn't see this movie at the cinema, but on my big screen at home instead.Given the running time of the movie, I was happy enough with the key actors' interpretations of their role, but can't help but think how much better I would have like it if some twenty more minutes could have been added. I hope those weren't just cut out for reasons I don't want to speculate about. Of course, you get that I recommend the movie despite that.