The Journey (2017)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Came to this film late on (2 years) i am amazed how I met this gem go past. Am of a age where I remember daily reports of IRA/UDA attacks on the news, Gerry Adams couldn't even be heard on Tv!. Great film , great script how accurate we will probably never know but how good would it have been to be in that taxi. Great acting from the two lead actors, if you have even a passing interest in history I highly recommend it to you.

I worked in broadcast during this historical time in Northern Ireland and knew both of these men. The acting and accents, mannerisms are absolutely as spot on as it can possibly get. Colm Meaney pulls off the Derry accent very well for a Dublin man and Spall gets all the inflections of big Ian's Belfast brogue. I think both of those men would perhaps enjoy the job the filmmakers made of them: "So they would"! Definitely a movie well presented and well researched. Worth watching: So it is!

The Journey (2016/III) was directed by Nick Hamm. It's based on the historical fact that in 2006 the Northern Ireland peace talks established a compromise solution that did, indeed, bring peace to Northern Ireland. This peace pact ended 40 years of terror and violence in that country. Again, historically, the Irish Catholic leader Martin McGuiness and the Irish Protestant Leader Ian Paisley came to an agreement that allowed peace to be established. This film represents an attempt to comprehend how this agreement came about.In a situation like this, a movie will rise or fall depending on the acting abilities of the two leads. No problem here, because director Hamm had two brilliant actors to work with: Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness and Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley. I think it's worth seeing the movie just to watch them act.For me, this was an extraordinary movie. I don't know enough about the history of Northern Ireland to know how accurate or realistic the dialog was. I know enough about movies to know that two brilliant leads can produce a magical moment if they know how to act, and how to interact. That's what happened in The Journey.We saw this movie in Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work well on the small screen. The Journey had a terrible IMDb rating of 6.2. That's the weighted average, but the median is 7.0. Most raters liked the film, and some loved it. However, a significant minority hated the movie, and gave it a rating of 1. (One of the people who rated it 1 has also written a review, and I suggest you check it out.)I noticed the same rating situation with the film Selma, although the average rating was much higher. I think that probably many films about controversial subjects will have people who hate those movies. In those cases, I check the median rating, which I believe gives a more accurate reflection of what most people thought about the movie.In my opinion, this is a definitely a film worth seeing, and I recommend it.

This is a remarkably well written film. That it is fictionalised, based on real events and real people, is a testament to the skill of not only the writing but all the performances and direction. Both leads, Colm Meaney and Timothy Spall, as McGuiness and Paisley respectively, are particularly excellent and both subtly understated and at the same time the very heartbeat of the film. Toby Stephens captures Blair's flippancy, mannerisms and that loathsome, grinny "Blairite" smile to a tee! Given the subject matter, the Northern Ireland peace talks of 2006, this is one of the funniest scripts of the year. Although the specific conversations on the "Journey" of the title may be imagined, one is left with a feeling that there is some truth or sense of inevitability as to what their conversations with each other must have covered. Less than 24 hours after seeing it, I'm already awaiting the theatrical release so I can take anyone who loves good film making with me!