mikejonesundisputed
I wasn't expecting much from this Irish drama but was pleasantly surprised at the content and thoroughly enjoyed this movie.The ever-reliable Brendan Gleeson plays Father James a quietly well-meaning priest who is threatened by an unknown during confession. The movie shows the following week as Father James tries to go about his duties whilst having the threat hanging over his head.It is no one-man show and excellent support is given by Game of Thrones actor Aiden Gillen as well as Dylan Moran and the 79 year old M.Emmet Walsh along with a few other familiar faces.The sensitive drama, accompanied by some darkly humour and often thought-provoking situations, is brilliantly acted, beautifully shot and is certainly a hidden gem.You will enjoy this movie and also come away thinking a lot about life.
juddynz
With such a stellar cast, I expected better, but it was as if someone came up with the idea of putting a bunch of well-known Irish actors together, throw in a couple of Americans to keep them happy, and create two-dimensional unlikable characters around a Catholic priest, but who add nothing meaningful to the story. I didn't see the point of the movie at all and felt I'd wasted my time. *spoiler* A man threatens to kill the priest, burns down the church, then kills the priest. *end spoiler* Yes, it was about child abuse by members of the Catholic church, but this movie contributed nothing at all to the debate - *spoiler* a nutter kills a good priest *end spoiler*. And if it was supposed to be a surprise at who had threatened him, it wasn't. I knew the voice of the actor right at the beginning.
Irishchatter
I have never gotten to watch Calvary until yesterday when it was showing on the RTE one channel. I was offered by Sligeach Films to be an extra of this film back in 2012 but unfortunately, I was doing my Leaving Cert at the time so I was unable to get involved in the project.As some other reviewer said about this film, you wouldn't think of it to be so dark because there has being a good few comedians involved in this, such as Chris O'Dowd and Pat Shortt. I was actually surprised that Chris O'Dowd's character shot Brendan Gleeson's character in the end, you honestly wouldn't think O'Dowd could play as a serial killer but there ya go, things can happen surprisingly in the film industry! The views are Sligo are really good but, you would think that John Michael McDonagh advertised the county a bit more. I mean, it felt like it was going back and forth to different locations. I mean Dublin had enough of films being made but somewhere outside the county like Sligo should be recognised a bit for the economy. As well as saying that, the film also took place in Sligo Airport which unfortunately doesn't offer scheduled flights anymore, I mean, I wish the film made a difference to getting the airport back up again! Anyways enough of my rant, this was a really good film so I'm giving this rating of 8/10!
izmir35
Calvary is a movie with a dark humor, opening with a quote by Saint Augustine: "Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned." Eternal salvation versus eternal damnation.The movie starts with Father James (Gleeson) listening a confession from a man whom we don't see and who tells a story about how he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest since he was 7 years old. The man tells Father James that he will take vengeance for his sufferings by killing a good priest (he means Father James) and gives him a week to put his affairs in order. During that week, Father James keeps trying to help his congregation while listening to their confessions and sometimes witnessing their wrongdoings, and slowly, losing his temper.McDonagh brothers are certainly very talented writers and they surely love Irish actor Brendan Gleeson who stars in John Michael McDonagh's Calvary. After watching him "In Bruge", "The Guard" and finally in "Calvary", who can argue with them? He is a brilliant and versatile actor whose screen presence is huge and undeniable. Calvary is a movie well worth watching.
AD
