Shadow Dancer2012

This low-key and engrossing Belfast-based drama is as much a well-acted character study as it is a thriller about the conflict in Northern Ireland.

We've seen terrorism as intrigue, as compulsion, as revenge, as religious devotion -- but this movie gives us terrorism as drudgery. The IRA family just seems to go through the motions, not because they're passionate about a cause, but because since a death in the family years ago, that's what they've always done. Clive Owen is, as always, riveting. But there's no real spark of connection between him and the lead actress, who simply cannot convey enough information or emotion through her perpetually wrinkled brow. Whispered and mumbled dialogue is hard to catch at times and that doesn't help.

(Marsh) downplays political questions of ideological rights and wrongs. Rather than making a film about terrorism, or about war, Marsh looks at how they affect the people caught up in their machinery.