Four Lions

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Four Lions

R

Released Nov 5, 2010

1h 42m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

84%

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136 Reviews

80%

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10,000+ Ratings

A group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield decide to wage jihad, and they hatch an inept plan to become suicide bombers. Omar (Riz Ahmed) and Waj (Kayvan Novak) have a brief, disastrous run at a Pakistan training camp, while Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) works on an unlikely scheme to train birds to carry bombs. Their ill-conceived plan culminates at the London Marathon with their bumbling attempts to disrupt the event while dressed in outlandish costumes.

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Critics Consensus

Its premise suggests brazenly tasteless humor, but Four Lions is actually a smart, pitch-black comedy that carries the unmistakable ring of truth.

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Wendy Ide

Times (UK)

The satire loses its edge a little by making the jihadists such imbeciles, but it’s very funny nonetheless.

Mar 17, 2023

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Deborah Ross

The Spectator

It feels like a missed opportunity all the same... As far as slapstick and farce and knockabout buffoonery go, this is as good as anything but my point, I think, is that this could be about any group.

Aug 30, 2018

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Stephen Cole

Globe and Mail

[Morris's] new comedy has a provocative, ticklish premise -- five North England Muslims become suicide bombers, but can't decide who or what to take with them.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 25, 2011

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Ali Khoei

emel

It excels in that it centralises the humour around the feebleness of mind and inadequacies of the characters, rather than being insensitive to the actual shattering consequences of terrorism.

Jul 21, 2021

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Stuart McGurk

NME (New Musical Express)

Chris Morris' terrorism comedy is a work of satirical brilliance.

Rated: 4/5

May 19, 2021

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Four Lions actually did manage to make terrorism seem a viable topic for parody.

Oct 21, 2020

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Johannes S

Very good dark humour and jokes. "Islamic state of Tinsley" is pure gold.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/25

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Pramod P

Its a great satire about religious fanatics.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/13/25

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BarÄ±Å Ä

I actually hate tragicomedy, but this movie made an exception. Well, to be fair, the exception is just showing the tragi like it's comedic as well and laughing at it also. Every event is shown funnily, death and loss included. But, to show death as a comedic factor among the others, as cheap as it seems, adds flavor to this film. It's one laugh track away from abandoning its tragicomedy status and being a straight up comedy. It has decent writing, an interesting concept as a movie to begin with, and the story develops really fast, which I enjoyed.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

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S. C

Terrorism turned into a parody. Satirical with a rather surprisingly offensive premise, which is absolutely bold, refreshing and admirable. The cast is solid and the jokes vary from slapstick to clever, however there are some emotional notes to the plot. Essentially it is the script which the movie mainly relies on, which is also a social commentary at the same time.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/13/23

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gurken s

l can still remember watching this the first time in Cinema and my laughs get stuck. And it still does that job 20 years later. Great approach over comedy to a painful topic even in 2023 : RELIGION

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/03/23

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Wolfgang G

Four Lions ist eine pechschwarze Komödie des Regisseurs Chris Morris… Vier inkompetente britische Terroristen wollten einen Terrorakt begehen… Die Geschichte ist ein Inbegriff der britischen Satire… eine Schwarze Komödie, die einen satirischen Blick auf Extremisten wirft…

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/25/23

Full Review

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Christopher Morris

Director

Riz Ahmed

Omar

Arsher Ali

Hassan

Nigel Lindsay

Barry

Kayvan Novak

Waj

Adeel Akhtar

Faisal

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88%

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Synopsis

A group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield decide to wage jihad, and they hatch an inept plan to become suicide bombers. Omar (Riz Ahmed) and Waj (Kayvan Novak) have a brief, disastrous run at a Pakistan training camp, while Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) works on an unlikely scheme to train birds to carry bombs. Their ill-conceived plan culminates at the London Marathon with their bumbling attempts to disrupt the event while dressed in outlandish costumes.

Director: Christopher Morris
Screenwriter: Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Christopher Morris
Distributor: Alamo Drafthouse Films
Rating: R (Some Sexual References|Language Throughout)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 5, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 7, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $304.1K
Runtime: 1h 42m

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