720. Four Lions (2010)

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak

Director: Chris Morris

Running Time: 97 mins

Four Lions is a British film about four incompetent Jihadists whose terror plans encounter various ridiculous hijinks and obstacles as in their pursuit of martyrdom.

The reason that this is so good is that it’s not only brilliantly offensive, but has this fantastic type of incredibly black comedy that, while making you laugh at the stupidity of the main characters, does hit you quite hard at points, looking at the Jihadist culture.

However, the main point about this film is that it’s just so funny. Whether it’s too topical and satirical to stand up in the future, we’ll see, but for now, it’s one of the funniest, most original and darkest comedies of the 21st Century.

The main reason for it being so funny is the characters. Despite their best efforts to commit the ultimate act of terror, their constant bickering, blindly idiotic mistakes, and hilarious hypocrisy between their real lives and their terrorist activities, coupled with some fantastic performances, make them an absolute joy to watch.

The other brilliantly hilarious thing is the amazing amount of hugely memorable quotes that it’s full of. From the classic ‘Rubber Dinghy Rapids’ to ‘Blow up Internet’, there’s so much stupidity in the screenplay from the characters, which really adds to the entertainment value of this film.

Also, the strange sensation that this film gives you makes it so original to watch. Basically, you’re laughing your head off at one of the funniest farces ever, yet the fact that it is all about Al-Qaeda and Jihadis does make it feel really odd to laugh at it as you do, with that incredibly black comedic note really hitting hard come the end of the film.

So, overall, this gets a 9.1, simply because it’s so funny, but also because of its impressive story, often more dramatic notes and brilliant originality.