Movie Review: DEAD SHOT

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 18th, 2023 / 01:23 AM

DEAD SHOT movie poster | ©2023 Quiver Releasing

Stars: Aml Ameen, Colin Morgan, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Sophia Brown, Mark Strong, Felicity Jones, Máiréad Tyers
Writers: Tom Guard & Charles Guard, based on a screenplay by Ronan Bennett, inspired by the book THE ROAD TO BALCOMBE STREET by Steven P. Moysey PhD
Directors: Tom Guard & Charles Guard
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Release Date: August 18, 2023 (theatrical, VOD, digital)

DEAD SHOT is a fictionalized story that is “inspired by” the nonfiction book THE ROAD TO BALCOMBE STREET by Steven P. Moysey PhD. The book dealt with an escalating conflict on the streets of London between an Active Service Unit (ASU) of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the London police force. This culminated in a hostage situation.

There’s no hostage situation in DEAD SHOT, and the situation is somewhat different, with invented names and incidents (for one thing, there was no IRA bombing at the major location given here). The story is made personal by what we see in the opening sequence.

We’re in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. The clash between the Catholic-led IRA, who want to join the Republic of Ireland, and the Protestant-led Ulster Defense Association, which wants to remain part of the United Kingdom, has led to years of violent unrest (to put the situation in very simplistic terms).

The British Army is combing the area, which is so full of IRA snipers that the English soldiers have taken to calling it “bandit country.” Michael O’Hara (Colin Morgan) has been an IRA soldier, but he wants to leave the fighting behind. His wife Carol (Máiréad Tyers) is in labor with their child, and Michael is happily ready to be a family man.

But on the way to the hospital, Michael and Carol encounter a British Army convoy. Carol convinces Michael to make a run for it – he’s wanted and she’s not. But one of the English soldiers, Henry Tempest (Aml Ameen), mistakenly believes there’s a gunman hiding inside the vehicle and opens fire, killing Carol and the not-quite-newborn.

Michael is shot in the fracas as well, but escapes. Grieving and enraged, he vows vengeance upon the man he saw shoot up the car.

Tempest feels bad, but at the same time legitimately feared for his life. His Army bosses see a public relations catastrophe in the making. But Holland (Mark Strong) is putting together a secret counter-terrorism unit for London. They can use someone with Tempest’s marksman skills. (How Holland determines that Tempest has marksman skills from shooting up a car he can’t see inside is something that is not addressed.)

So, Tempest goes to London. In order to find him, Michael needs Tempest’s name and current location. To get these, Michael goes back to his old IRA boss, Keenan (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), who likewise wants someone with Michael’s abilities on the team in London.

DEAD SHOT benefits greatly from the lead performances of Ameen and Morgan, who both convey soulfulness and grim aptitude in almost equal measure. Likewise, Strong and Vaughan-Lawlor exude certainty and ruthlessness.

Directors/writers Tom Guard & Charles Guard, who credit Ronan Bennett with a screenplay that preceded theirs, stage the firefights and foot chases with gritty credibility.

But the filmmakers falter a bit in what they seem to be trying to say. Yes, there were people of conscience and manipulative tyrants on both sides, as well as a lot of innocent victims. It’s a valid observation, if not a new one. By keeping politics out of it as much as possible, though, it’s hard to assess what Michael or Tempest or even their handlers think now or ever thought of their respective causes.

DEAD SHOT teeters with not giving us quite enough of either characters or strategy. It’s easy enough to understand Michael’s drive and his doubts. But Tempest is trickier, and for all the conviction Ameen puts into the role, we still have to take on faith the reasons for the character’s increasingly focused quest.

DEAD SHOT is intriguing, with a down-to-Earth feel and strong actors. It’s just a little vague where it would benefit from being specific.

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