A Recompensa de Perrier

This film is about a man who owes gangster money. He causes the death of a debt collector, therefore the gangsters issue a bounty on him.

"Perrier's Bounty" may sound like a good idea, but it is poorly executed. The characters are cardboard cut-outs that have no chemistry with each other. I frankly do not care about any of the characters at all, so watching them run around for 80 minutes is not so much fun.

The plot is plainly told in a mundane way. Imagine the dullest speaker telling a story with a hypnotic voice, that's how "Perrier's Bounty" tells a story. There are desperate attempts at humour, but they fall completely flat. The frequent use of 'man' is so unnecessary and is so irritating. The filmmakers try to make the film artistic and atmospheric. I admit the cinematography and scene composition is often good, but that does not enhance the enjoyment factor of a crime thriller. "Perrier's Bounty" is so dull and irritating, please do not watch it.

For this particular genre of movies, then "Perrier's Bounty" failed to make a lasting impression, nor did it leave any significant impact. The story never really made it out of the parking lot, so to speak. The story, despite trying hard, never turned out to be more than mediocre.

The movie does have an impressive list of actors and actresses on the cast list, but despite this fact, that wasn't enough to pull off the story in a manner that would turn out to be outstanding.

The story is about Michael McCrea who owes money to Perrier. Michael is given a short amount of time to make payment due, otherwise Perrier's goons will set out to collect the debt one way or another. A frantic night turns worse when Michael ends up on the run with his suicidal neighbor and his dying father.

Storywise, then there were moments throughout the movie that were great and there were some good ideas to the script as well. However, the overall impression of the movie was fairly mediocre, and there is sort of an irrelevant vibe to the movie, which was a shame.

"Perrier's Bounty" is great for a single watching, but the movie is nowhere near anything that would support multiple viewings of the movie. The storyline just doesn't have what it takes.

Apart from a very strong cast, this also has some very fine moments throughout. Like a french phrase that gets repeated. Offbeat things like that make this movie stand out from some other movies who try hard to be distinguishable. But in the end, there are quite a few things, that don't quite work in it's favor.

While the story as it is, is told pretty fast (so that you can't think too much about some logical errors/plot holes I guess), sometimes you'd want some time for the characters to breathe. Especially the things the female lead goes through in a short amount of time, are very improbable, not to mention her emotional journey, which is just a bit too rushed. Still lovable, but with an ending, that though planted, feels a bit off in a wrong way.

An Irish gangster crime comedy. Well, Irish, gangster and crime are all accurate but whether it's a comedy, drama or thriller that's up to you to decide. Perrier (Brendan Gleeson) has a bounty for the head of Michael (Cillian Murphy). Poor lad, he owes money to some local thugs.

With the help of his beautiful, slightly crazy and suicidal neighbour Brenda (Jodie Whittaker), they accidentally kill a thug, and then with the encouragement of his might-be-dying father (Jim Broadbent), they go on a crime spree.

It's a comedy of errors where the errors lead to many murders, some accidental but some because there's nothing better to do. It's violent for the sake of being violent with a few uneasy laughs. Add Gabriel Byrne as the voice of the narrator/The Reaper expounding on the philosophical virtues of life, death and the ocean, just to make the film more well-rounded. I'm assuming that's the purpose, and also that the contradiction between philosophy and gangster crime is supposed to be hilarious.

"Perrier's Bounty" could be a brilliant fusion of all genres into a gangster crime film. But it's missing some vital cohesiveness and substance to make this more than a weirdly funny, violent crime spree through an Irish night. Which isn't all that bad, but it's no "In Bruges".

PERRIER'S BOUNTY is YET another clichéd gangster movie in which everyone is ripping each other off and there are no nice characters in sight. RED EYE's Cillian Murphy plays a low-rent scumbag who owes money to a local gangster, played with familiar relish by Brendan Gleeson. Cue loads of chases, manic situations, pursuing hit men and even a little romance with shoehorned-in love interest Jodie Whittaker.

This could be just another London-set gangster drama in the same vein as many a Guy Ritchie movie, but the fact that it's Irish sets it apart a little from the crowd - but only a little. For the most part, it's highly predictable, and although the story is fairly fast-moving and interesting, unfortunately the script is a letdown. It really falls apart when it comes to the father/son bonding scenes with an out-of-place Jim Broadbent; these are indescribably boring and seem to go on forever.

However, fans of fantasy TV show GAME OF THRONES will be well served by the supporting cast; no less than four familiar faces from the programme appear here. There are minor parts for Francis Magee (Yoren) and Conleth Hill (Varys), and bigger, decent roles for Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) and Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth). At least their presence was enough to keep me entertained for the majority of the running time...