Shadow Dancer

I gather this was a critically acclaimed film, but I can’t fathom why. The only reason I watched it all the way through is because I watched it with my beloved mom – who is from Ireland.

Shadow Dancer stars Andrea Riseborough as an IRA member who is captured and offered a deal by an MI5 operative (Clive Owen): Inform on the IRA, or go to jail. She chooses to inform because of her son, so she can be there for him.

That is about all you might get from this film, if you even get that.

Shadow Dancer is best described as a muddled mess, lacking any real plot, story or a competent script. At some point towards the end there seems to be a love story subplot, but it is non-existent for the entire film.

Nothing in this film ever really happens, despite the fact that it wants you to think something has happened.

This is a long, boring, dry film with nothing to it. There is no life, no feeling, no sense of anything. This is made worse by the performances. If this film had been populated with corpses you would have had a more lively and compelling cast.

Andrea Riseborough walks around like a blank, lifeless zombie. And hers is the best performance in the film.

FINAL THOUGHT:
Shadow Dancer is a Shadow of a film.

RATING: 4