Four Lions is Chris Morris‘ first film, starring Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Adeel Akhtar and Arsher Ali.

Plot:
Omar (Riz Ahmed), Waj (Kayvan Novak), Barry (Nigel Lindsay) and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) make up a British jihadist group. They’re dreaming of the big terrorist act, of bombs and eternal glory. Omar and Waj even find their way into a training camp, while Barry and Faisal stay home and recruit Hassan (Arsher Ali). But being a terrorist isn’t really easy…

I’ve heard good things about Four Lions and my expectations were pretty high: the movie’s topic, plus a lot of black humor should be awesome. And it is. There’s really nothing that I can complain about.

This is going to be one of those reviews where I don’t really know what to say that isn’t boring gushedy gushgush. So either bear with me or just skip this review and watch the movie yourself.

Anyway. Four Lions changes gears a couple of times during the film and it also changes humor type. From slapstick to puns to wit to silliness in about 30 seconds. And the amazing thing is: all of those types worked for me. I did not laugh at only the silliness or only the witty stuff, I laughed at all of it. Heartily.

Part of that is due to Chris Morris’ impeccable comedic timing: despite the sometimes a bit abrupt changes in tempo and mood, he keeps it all together and flowing. But the other part of it is the amazing cast. I never heard of any of them before this film, I have to admit, but I do hope that I will hear from them from now on. Because there’s a lot of talent right there. Especially Kayvan Novak and Riz Ahmed were brilliant.

And if that wasn’t enough, basically without you noticing, Four Lions slips in intelligent thoughts and questions about Islam, identification with it, belief, radicalisation etc etc. Even if you don’t find it funny, this makes it absolutely worth a watch or two.

Summarising: What are you still waiting for? Go and watch it right now.