THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610260035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 67 lines
WHILE WE continue to mourn the passing of David Lean and fear we will never again get great political-romantic epics like ``Lawrence of Arabia'' or ``Doctor Zhivago,'' along comes ``Michael Collins.''
It can't rank with Lean's work, but it at least proves there are still filmmakers who aspire to the goal. This in itself is enough to make this tale of the Irish revolutionary leader a must-see for those who want to support thoughtful films.
Made on a modest $28 million budget, it lacks the vistas of an epic but makes up for it in sweep of story. It's too bad, while we're wishing, that we don't have one of those complex Robert Bolt scripts (``Lawrence of Arabia,'' ``A Man for All Seasons'') that turned political stories into personal dramas.
Neil Jordan (``The Crying Game'' and ``Interview With the Vampire''), who was born in southern Ireland, is obviously engaged in a labor of love here. He directed and wrote, and has been begging for the financing for this movie for the past 13 years.
Starting with the Easter Uprising in 1916, the film chronicles the rise of the Irish Volunteers, led by the title character. Collins created an underground ``invisible army'' that fought the British and assassinated Irishmen who collaborated with them. His one-night wipeout of British police forced the British empire to take note.
Even in his own lifetime, Collins was a mysterious force. He rode about Dublin openly on a bicycle even though the British were diligently searching for him. No one knew exactly what he looked like.
Liam Neeson, as Collins, knows he has the role of his career. He storms through it with a charisma that suggests the passion of a fighting man who believes in his cause and is willing to use any means to further it. Neeson's fiery portrayal carries the film.
Most interesting is the conflict between plain-spoken Collins and Eamon De Valera, the man who became president and prime minister of Ireland and who, just before his death, reasoned that history would eventually recognize Collins' greatness. But by casting Alan Rickman in the role, the audience immediately thinks of the man as evil. Rickman was such a successful villain in Kevin Costner's ``Robin Hood'' and the second of the ``Die Hard'' films that it's impossible not to associate him with them.
The film is much less successful in trying to establish a love-story subplot, a triangle of Collins, his best friend, Harry Boland, and the sassy colleen Kitty Kiernan.
Julia Roberts agreed to a fraction of her usual superstar salary to play the small role of Kitty. The part is so underwritten, though, that she can do little to breathe life into it. This is primarily a political and an action film, not a romance.
Aidan Quinn plays Boland, seemingly settling down to character-actor roles (``Legends of the Fall''). Stephen Rea (``The Crying Game'') plays the martyred spy Ned Broy. Charles Dance (TV's ``Jewel in the Crown'') is a ruthless British investigator.
Gratefully, there is a minimum of that colorful blarney that is so often tried in any film about Ireland. Thankfully, not one actor utters the phrase ``Oh, to be sure'' or ``Saints preserve us.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Michael Collins''
Cast: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Julia
Roberts
Director: Neil Jordan
MPAA rating: R (violence)
Mal's rating: Four stars by CNB