What was Colm Meaney thinking accepting this job? Awful script, worse acting and terrible everything else.

Slow build to a ridiculous pay off. 2 average lads just decided one day to take on the government and IRA in Belfast. And they easily won! No depth or build in this story at all. The actors seemed to be straight out of a local stage school.

2 Stars for 1, the effort and 2, colm Meaney.

Don't waste 1 Hr 40 min on this borefest made by a bunch of novices.

Someone is killing off former IRA operatives. They are doing so with a sense of irony and insider information. The Big Man (Colm Meaney) is called in to solve the crimes. He himself is a loyalist who lost his daughter. He sincerely wants to find the culprits while having mixed feelings over their deaths. His lines are filled with cliches and truisms, "No one is ever happy until they are grieving again."

The killings go on for too long without any clues. Indeed, the killers are awkwardly introduced as new characters, although characters I had suspected without knowing- go figure. This lead to a conclusion that appeared to be ill conceived, giving us a theme that was contrary to itself. It was interesting watching Meaney as a detective early on, piecing together the crime from obscure clues and his street knowledge. Indeed, I was expecting more of this type of investigator, but as he grew tired so did the script.

Might work as a crime-drama rental. A feel good Irish unity message attempts to come through, but falls short.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

"Three more bodies. It's an epidemic."

Apparently, the package the press received from Adnuco Production caused quite a stir. The presentation contained the DVD and was supplemented with material that could be handy for terrorists like a balaclava, a handful of nails and duct tape. I am convinced that seeing this content was more exciting than the content of this movie.

"A Belfast Story" is situated in Ireland (quite obviously) and has a real Irish atmosphere. The beautiful scenery with its wavy hills, the folk music that can be heard throughout the film in a non-interfering manner in the background, the local pubs, the known working class houses (although it could be in Liverpool district as well) and of course the succulent Irish accent that is spoken. Unmistakably a sign that genuine Irish actors and actresses were asked for this movie.

But Ireland is also inextricably linked to the IRA (Irish Republican Army),the paramilitary organization which fought for an independent Ireland with no ties to the United Kingdom and tried to achieve that by committing bloody bombings which also caused innocent civilian victims. In "A Belfast Story" former members of the IRA are systematically murdered. It seems, therefore, that there is now someone taking revenge on them. Or is it an attempt to stir up the unrest that ravaged Ireland.

Colm "Star Trek O'Brien" Meaney is the seasoned detective who investigates who the perpetrators are. He is a rather dusty and corny character. A detective who is about to retire and who knows the tricks of the trade when it's about the IRA. He's also someone who's emotionally scarred from this battle and that rises the question whether he wants to solve this matter or not? Chief Constable (Malcolm Sinclair) called him "Last of his kind".

I like to watch occasionally an old-fashioned "who-has-done-it" detective. The atmosphere is quite in the nature of a typical English detective serials such as "Frost". Ultimately it's just a boring movie. The first hour is a concatenation of the attacks on the former members of the IRA and an awful lot of people who are calling with their mobile phone. Meaney looks like an Irish Columbo who surly grumbles when he arrives at the crime scene and then he comes to the conclusion that there is a pattern : former members of the IRA are being killed and it looks like some kind of vendetta. I am not a seasoned detective, but I figured that out myself after 15 minutes. The murders happen in an inventive way and are related to the acts the victims have done in the past. Only the poisoning of one of them, after he went for "Fish and Chips" in a local eatery, I found rather implausible. How they did that still remains a mystery to me.

It's just waiting for the denouement and discover who's the culprit and what's his motive. Until then you witness the clumsy investigative work by the police who, as always, are running behind the facts and have no clear indications that could solve this case. Moreover I hope that the real Irish police is more capable than those performing in this film. I don't think bugging devices are clogged in such a moronic and instantaneous way. And why didn't they search the adjacent barn after their thorough search (although it also looked like a joke) through the house ? Ultimately the underlying message is a bit more complicated than it appears at first sight. The ex-members of the I.R.A. want to leave the past being (especially now that they have moved up to a prestigious position. Even as First Minister) and the law enforcement apparently have no problem with the liquidation of some retired IRA members. Whether all this is accurate and consistent with the current situation, is something unknown to me since my knowledge of the political situation is fairly limited. However, I fear that people will have wrong idea about Ireland after watching "A Belfast Story." It seems like everyone still has a few automatic rifles in the closet or between the cushions of the seat , so they can go to battle again at the right time. It wouldn't surprise me that inhabitants of Ireland and England, think this is a pretty shocking and uncompromising movie.

After a while I got the feeling that I was watching a third-rate television series, though it began strong and promising but eventually degenerated into a terribly annoying controversial product in which Meaney excelled in, despite his boring monologues he had while sitting alone in a room with the most hideous wallpaper patterns ever. The consternation about the package I've mentioned at the beginning, was indeed necessary to obtain some attention.

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