In The Name Of The Father is a good movie. Not great, but good. After all, it has a lot going for it: great acting (particularly from its headlining stars: Day-Lewis, Postlethwaite and Thompson), solid and assured direction as well as, obviously, a thought-provoking story about four individuals who were wrongly imprisoned for over 15 years for a crime they did not commit (as well as seven others sent to prison on separate charges). But belying these good aspects, is an over-simplified, poorly-paced and sometimes confusing version of the truth. The story that's being told of the 'Guildford Four' can be perplexing at times, largely because of the pacing and editing of the film. Characters are introduced in some scenes which leave you going "Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?", before it clicks much later on in the film who they are and what those scenes were about - and not in a good way. I'm sure a second or third viewing may clear up some of those aspects for me, but it usually doesn't speak well of a film if you're going back to watch it just you can understand what happened fully - rather than re-watching it to try and catch details you missed and/or analyse the film more closely.
In addition, despite the lengthy run-time, the story is dreadfully slow and out of balance at times. For example, Thompson barely seems to appear in the film, and seeing more of what she did to try and get the Guildford Four out of prison would have been compelling. The out-of-kilter pacing also led to some strange moments i.e. we're told about Guiseppe, Gerry's father, leading a campaign to try and get them free; the result of which we only see in the last 15-20 minutes of the film. Much like Thompson's rare appearances, it would have been nice to see more of this, rather than merely being told it, and how it came about rather than seemingly going from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye.
In short, the over two hour run-time should have been cut down and streamlined, and could have almost definitely benefited from adjusting the story beats significantly. There are other issues with the editing such as (at least) two noticeably dubbed over lines, and (on a lesser note) unimpressive and boring opening and closing credits (not really that much of a negative, but I thought I'd point it out regardless). Because of these aforementioned issues, I can't give this film an overwhelmingly positive score despite its merits. I therefore sentence 'In The Name Of The Father' to a 7/10, with a possible re-review in the future to consider any other possibilities that may have been missed.
Court is adjourned.
In addition, despite the lengthy run-time, the story is dreadfully slow and out of balance at times. For example, Thompson barely seems to appear in the film, and seeing more of what she did to try and get the Guildford Four out of prison would have been compelling. The out-of-kilter pacing also led to some strange moments i.e. we're told about Guiseppe, Gerry's father, leading a campaign to try and get them free; the result of which we only see in the last 15-20 minutes of the film. Much like Thompson's rare appearances, it would have been nice to see more of this, rather than merely being told it, and how it came about rather than seemingly going from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye.
In short, the over two hour run-time should have been cut down and streamlined, and could have almost definitely benefited from adjusting the story beats significantly. There are other issues with the editing such as (at least) two noticeably dubbed over lines, and (on a lesser note) unimpressive and boring opening and closing credits (not really that much of a negative, but I thought I'd point it out regardless). Because of these aforementioned issues, I can't give this film an overwhelmingly positive score despite its merits. I therefore sentence 'In The Name Of The Father' to a 7/10, with a possible re-review in the future to consider any other possibilities that may have been missed.
Court is adjourned.