There follows a story of human-trafficking, sexual slavery and gangsterism in contemporary Northern Ireland. A follow up attempt is made to kill Donal and make it look like suicide but Tyrone farmers are a hardy lot and one of the assailants ends up dead and the other is Donal's prisoner. One night strangers come and murder his murder. Donal (Nigel O'Neill) lives on an Isolated Tyrone farm with his mother, he is middle-aged and lonely, repairs vehicles on the side. In other words, this is an extremely good thriller which must be seen by more people.īad Day For The Cut: An Irish Film about revenge, quelle surprise! Starting off in Tyrone and moving around the Six counties this is a tale of vengeance rooted in "The Troubles" but most of the narrative relates to present day events. The story has enough twists and turns to ensure it is always compelling and it ends very effectively also.
The former puts in a thoroughly engaging and sometimes funny performance as the sympathetic farmer out for retribution and answers, while the latter is very convincing as the dangerous psychotic behind events, it is also a nice change to have the crime boss a woman. Of additional benefit here is the acting performances of both Nigel O'Neill as the vigilante farmer and Susan Lynch as the unhinged crime boss. It's a balance it gets just right without ever sacrificing the seriousness of the main plot-line. It is a film which combines its bloody thriller moments with a healthy dose of black comedy though. You could also find the tit-for-tat violence between the two parties here an analogy for the violence of the past in which one murder led to another and another. Plus, the undercurrents of the Troubles are interwoven into the story as a background which ultimately informs the events in the present day. There aren't too many films made in this part of the world, so it gives things a fresher feel. First off, the Northern Irish setting is a bonus right from the get-go. It's essentially a plot line that on the face of it sounds fairly typical but the way it is delivered to screen ensures that this is a film which stands out. A farmer seeks bloody revenge against the criminals who murdered his mother one dark night. Its story is one that sounds pretty familiar. Well, I have to say that this Northern Irish effort is a cut above most of them. Revenge thrillers are fairly common, so much so that when going into a new one the tendency is to lower your expectations given that most are pretty generic and samey.