A Prayer For The Dying DVD > Reviews > Last Rites

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Faithful depiction of a popular novel
Disadvantages:	Over powering musical score

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

A Prayer For The Dying is a faithful adaptation of Alex Higgins best selling novel. Mickey Rourke stars as Martin Fallon an faithful member of the IRA, but Fallon has been getting a bit disgruntled with the whole whole movement of late and the accidental death of a bus full of school girls because of a bungled attempt to blow up an army convoy strengthens his resolve.

Fallon heads for the East End of London in search of a new life, but no sooner has he arrived than the heat is on him; as is the pressure. Bisexual London gangster Jack Meehan has work that he wants Fallon to carry out for him and unless Fallon helps him Meehan will turn him into the police. While carrying out a hit for Meehan, Fallon encounters Father Michael De Costa and his niece Anna. This encounter causes Fallon to reassess his life and re-connect himself with God; but as things get to heavy Fallon may need more than the help of God to get through the next few days.

Cast

Mickey Rourke .... Martin Fallon
Bob Hoskins .... Father Michael Da Costa
Alan Bates .... Jack Meehan
Sammi Davis .... Anna
Christopher Fulford .... Billy Meehan
Liam Neeson .... Liam Docherty
Leonard Termo .... Bonati
Camille Coduri .... Jenny Fox
Maurice O'Connell .... Superintendant Miller

Lets get to the bad stuff first A Prayer For The Dying suffers from one fault, the musical score is far too big for the movie. This is a low budget British movie which has limited sets, and often over lengthy scenes; but into this small feature comes a big booming score by Bill Conti. This score is absolutely fantastic, a real epic theme that's worthy of the biggest blockbuster. But pair this score off with the movie and it appears that one or the other is a little hollow.

Now onto the good stuff, A Prayer For The Dying is a fantastic movie. The characters are all well portrayed by legendary actors and have a full 3 dimensional character development. Each character from the priest to the gangster gets the opportunity to show both their warm sides as well as their darker and more sinister sides. Even the smaller characters get given a full in depth profiling.

Alan Bates is fantastically creepy as Jack Meehan an undertaker by day and deadly gangster to boot, by night when not being too creepy he makes advances at whatever takes his fancy, his particular favourite seems to be Rupert played by Anthony Head. Meehan exacts a reign of terror over all who cross him, he'll never cross the line and kill someone but he'll teach them a lesson that lasts for the rest of their life.

Bob Hoskins stars as Father Michael a priest with a strong conscience, his love for God is tested to its very limits by the arrival of Fallon. And as the pressure is placed on Fallon, Father Michael's long hidden dark side comes to the surface; what happened to him in during his time as a soldier? This is a excellent role for Bob Hoskins letting him show his bubbly warmth as well as the side we saw in The Long Good Friday, it seemed that Hoskins was well and truly the man of the moment; it's a shame this was ruined by Hollywood.

This brings us to Fallon, played by Mickey Rourke fresh from his role in 9 1/2 weeks initially you see an awful Irish impersonation but as the movie progresses it seems that he becomes more and more convincing. I actually would go so far as to say that this is the most likeable role I have ever seen Rourke in. He moves quickly from hard nosed killer to loving companion to Hoskins niece played by 80's star Sammi Davis. Fallon is a friend to everyone, a killer with a real conscience.

A Prayer For The Dying is a fantastic movie that has everything love, action, suspense and a strong moral message for everyone.

The DVD has no special features but is available for the bargain price of just £5.99 from Play.com.