Maybe it's just me but I truly hate seeing great movie stars
forced to play roles that are so far beneath them it makes your teeth grind
just seeing them try to make something of that role. Then again perhaps I
should be upset with that actor for taking on the role. Suffice to say that Ben
Kingsley, yes the man who played Gandhi and recently the Mandarin, offers a
truly walk through performance in A COMMON MAN.
The movie has Kingsley placing bombs throughout Sri Lanka in
several public locations. He then informs a new reporter to be at the site of
the first bomb to go off. Before igniting that bomb he contacts the local DIG
(Ben Cross, another actor deserving of better parts) and tells him that the
bombs have been planted and that he wants to talk to someone with more
authority. In order to give him time and to show he is willing to work with
them he lets them know the location of the first bomb.
Phone calls are made and everyone in charge of Sri Lanka is
apparently on vacation leaving only Cross to handle the situation. Then again
perhaps this is just a way of passing the buck for someone to take a fall
should things go bad. In any event it leaves Cross to deal with Kingsley and
they begin a cat and mouse game of Cross trying to find him while answering his
demands. The demands are to release 4 prisoners currently held because of their
terrorist activity. If you don't see what's coming then you haven't seen many
films.
The plotline here is thin at best and easily guessed from start
to finish. The set up is tedious and takes far too long to get where it's
going. The photography is incredibly weak and seems more like a movie not only
shot in Sri Lanka but done so with cameras that were left there after the
Second World War
Kingsley and Cross do their best to elevate this film but
have no luck accomplishing that task. The only good part of the film is the
secondary twist ending that might make it worth watching. But then again why
waste the time?
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