Audiences finally get the chance to see the film savaged by critics as a vanity project of the Riverdancer
The cinema lights dimmed, the music swelled and Michael Flatley appeared on screen, finally giving the public a chance to see Blackbird, the spy thriller he wrote, produced, financed, directed and starred in.
For years the film industry had speculated about it, and earlier this week film critics got to view – and savage – it, but on Friday it was the turn of audiences across Ireland and the UK to give their verdict.
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Even though prima facie Michael Flatley's Blackbird sounds like an ego trip to Casablanca and has mainly received lone star reviews we hope it is a huge success and turns out to be a robust middle finger to his one star critics and all the other grey men in Netflix and Hollywood pretending they know all about real spies.
ReplyDeleteFilms and books in the espionage genre are dominated by too many remakes, repeats and regurgitations of similar plots where unrealistic spies rather like fictitious knights in shining armour regularly and repeatedly save the planet from spinning out of orbit. Many are weary of Fleming, Deighton, Ludlum and even le Carré. Great as they may be, there are just too many repeat offerings of Bond, Palmer, Smiley, Bourne, Bond and Bond again.
If success is to breed success the film and book industries must not lazily polish old espionage gems but mine for new ones. A good example of recent mining is Mick Herron's Slough House series. Another new rough and raw gem in the espionage genre rejected by publishers (as was the Slough House series) is Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription, the first spy thriller in The Burlington Files series. Just like Michael Flatley's Blackbird it was "self-published".
Let's hope one day they both turn out to be classic films. Beyond Enkription may have the edge in that because being based on fact, it would be more difficult for actors and TV producers to deliver a lazy production. Film producers should check out this enigmatic and elusive anti-Bond and anti-establishment thriller. As it's not yet a remake it may have eluded them to date.
Even though prima facie Michael Flatley's Blackbird sounds like an ego trip to Casablanca and has mainly received lone star reviews we hope it is a huge success and turns out to be a robust middle finger to his one star critics and all the other grey men in Netflix and Hollywood pretending they know all about real spies.
ReplyDeleteFilms and books in the espionage genre are dominated by too many remakes, repeats and regurgitations of similar plots where unrealistic spies rather like fictitious knights in shining armour regularly and repeatedly save the planet from spinning out of orbit. Many are weary of Fleming, Deighton, Ludlum and even le Carré. Great as they may be, there are just too many repeat offerings of Bond, Palmer, Smiley, Bourne, Bond and Bond again.
If success is to breed success the film and book industries must not lazily polish old espionage gems but mine for new ones. A good example of recent mining is Mick Herron's Slough House series. Another new rough and raw gem in the espionage genre rejected by publishers (as was the Slough House series) is Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription, the first spy thriller in The Burlington Files series. Just like Michael Flatley's Blackbird it was "self-published".
Let's hope one day they both turn out to be classic films. Beyond Enkription may have the edge in that because being based on fact, it would be more difficult for actors and TV producers to deliver a lazy production. Film producers should check out this enigmatic and elusive anti-Bond and anti-establishment thriller. As it's not yet a remake it may have eluded them to date.