Red Mercury (2005)

Three young Muslim men, part of a terror cell, are making a bomb in a London flat, when they get a call to vacate immediately with their gear. The police have been alerted and they are ... See full summary »

Director:

Roy Battersby

Writers:

Peter Ansorge (additional material), Farrukh Dhondy (screenplay),

Stars:

David Bradley, Stockard Channing, Pete Postlethwaite

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Bradley	...	Neil Ashton
Stockard Channing	...	Penelope
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Gold Commander
Ron Silver	...	Sidney
Juliet Stevenson	...	Sofia Warburton
Nigel Terry	...	Lindsey
Alex Caan	...	Mushtaq
Navin Chowdhry	...	Asif
San Shella	...	Shahid
Rachel Bell	...	Mrs. Iqbal
Jessica Brooks	...	Jemma
Jacqueline Defferary	...	Amanda
Nicholas Farrell	...	Minister
Stella Gonet	...	Gerry Ashton
Daniel Hill	...	Donald Carr

Storyline

Three young Muslim men, part of a terror cell, are making a bomb in a London flat, when they get a call to vacate immediately with their gear. The police have been alerted and they are under suspicion. Asif, Shahid and Mushtaq grab suitcases, the computer, and a cardboard box containing bomb making equipment and bolt out the door. Shahid's getaway car is clamped so the three are forced to escape on foot from the pursuing police. Cornered, they dive into a restaurant on a busy city street. It is the Olympus Grill and dinner is being served to its well-heeled clientele. With the police outside, Asif, Shahid and Mushtaq have nowhere to go. Mushtaq, thinking quickly, declares that they will hold the restaurant goers hostage. The diners are forced to get up from their tables where they have been enjoying the delicious Greek cuisine. They are lined up against a wall. Electra, the young waitress, is also forced to stand in line. Her mother, who is the restaurant owner, comes out from the ...

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Plot Keywords:

bomb | police | terrorist | children's author | siege | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dirty Bomb

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Inspired Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

A Mature, Intelligent and Ambitious Thriller Let Down by Uninspired Direction and Terrible Production Values

With a cast of great TV actors, Stockard Channing, Pete Postlethwaite, Juliet Stevenson, to name but a few, and an excellent script from the writer Farrukh Dhondy, I was definitely interested to see the film when it was listed on satellite TV.

What other films with the subject nature of terrorism fail on is insight into character. As a long standing British Asian writer and educator, Dhondy has a clear insight into the three dimensional Asian terrorists he has created (all well played by young, little known actors). These are people he understands intimately, and represent the patchwork nature of British Islamism. Further, Dhondy does not flinch from telling harsh truths, both about Muslims and Non-Muslims. It is a must for all who want an insight into the roots of British Islamism.

Moreover, Dhondy's gifts as a storyteller also shine through and his script is intelligent, funny and gripping, a rare combination. His only fault is in trying to pack too many characters and plot-lines in. I can understand he was trying to create a climate around the theme of generation gap and cultural degeneration, but the tapestry feeling seemed a little contrived.

What lets the film down is its clearly pathetic budget. In a small, low-key drama, this hardly matters. However, in an upmarket, 'big' thriller such as this, the cheap production jars in the eye of the viewer. This doesn't matter so much when dealing with the holed-up terrorists and their hostages, but on the parallel plot following the police, it really shows. The police seem to have the resources not of the entire Met, but of a village police station. Related to this, the direction, while competent, is also uninspired, making it look very much like another piece of unoriginal TV, and there is one truly howling continuity error, for which the editor should be shot (figuratively, of course).

Red Mercury certainly would have been better off as a Channel 4 Mini Series, instead of the childish, unimformed Britz (a major Channel 4 mini series of 2007- even stranger when you consider that Dhondy himself was a senior Channel 4 Executive for many years). It is also a real shame that this film was made in 2005, clearly just before the London Bombings, as its ultimately upbeat message was obliterated by the actions of real 'home-grown' terrorists. This must have been one of the reasons for its commercial collapse when it was finally released.