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Why so much hype?

Best movie ever!

Absolutely Fantastic

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I'm surprised this movie didn't do better in theatres. The movie revolves around a fictional retelling of the Northern Ireland peace treaty. It tells the tale of the real life leaders Martin McGuiness and Ian Paisley finding some common ground after years of hatred. The movie doesn't choose sides in the conflict but presents puts the war in perspective: honoring the memory of your ancestors by continuing the conflict or giving your descendants hope by finding peace. This is an excellent portrayal of two men who must look past themselves and their prejudices to build a peaceful future.

"The Journey" offers a highly speculative version of the conversation that put an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland that has come to be known as the Troubles.Actors Timothy Spall and Colm Meany both portray their roles powerfully. Their verbal sparring and give-and-take maneuverings make for a compelling performance.

The Journey (2016/III) was directed by Nick Hamm. It's based on the historical fact that in 2006 the Northern Ireland peace talks established a compromise solution that did, indeed, bring peace to Northern Ireland. This peace pact ended 40 years of terror and violence in that country. Again, historically, the Irish Catholic leader Martin McGuiness and the Irish Protestant Leader Ian Paisley came to an agreement that allowed peace to be established. This film represents an attempt to comprehend how this agreement came about.In a situation like this, a movie will rise or fall depending on the acting abilities of the two leads. No problem here, because director Hamm had two brilliant actors to work with: Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness and Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley. I think it's worth seeing the movie just to watch them act.For me, this was an extraordinary movie. I don't know enough about the history of Northern Ireland to know how accurate or realistic the dialog was. I know enough about movies to know that two brilliant leads can produce a magical moment if they know how to act, and how to interact. That's what happened in The Journey.We saw this movie in Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work well on the small screen. The Journey had a terrible IMDb rating of 6.2. That's the weighted average, but the median is 7.0. Most raters liked the film, and some loved it. However, a significant minority hated the movie, and gave it a rating of 1. (One of the people who rated it 1 has also written a review, and I suggest you check it out.)I noticed the same rating situation with the film Selma, although the average rating was much higher. I think that probably many films about controversial subjects will have people who hate those movies. In those cases, I check the median rating, which I believe gives a more accurate reflection of what most people thought about the movie.In my opinion, this is a definitely a film worth seeing, and I recommend it.

I Looked forward to seeing The Journey ...But What a waste of time that was. This film should have been the monumental change in the NI series of movies. But unfortunately Nick Hamms jittery direction and lack of depth to supporting characters along with Batemans almost Monty Pythonesque silly script gave us what we should now call the Norn Oirish silly road movie genre. Ill not go into spoilers there were a few good lines By Paisley gags from Blair and McGuinness With the audience Feeling sorry for Spall and Meaney for trying to deal with this utter nonsense along with pop culture being Flung at us at every corner and sentence that Bateman could muster gently forcing the titters and groans from the faithful few. I then tried to gee myself up and wonder how I would have done this differently, the answer I eventually decided on was ....I wouldn't.... Hamm was given a dodgy script and tried his best to make that good and that was a tall order. They had a responsibility to tell a tail which changed the face of a country and they gagged it up and failed miserably.