Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)

Brief Primer

Alistair Little (Liam "Fallout 3" Neeson) is a murderer, he shot a guy 3 times when he was a teenager as a member of the UVF. Now he's a counselor who helps people who've done terrible things, or he talks to regular people about how much it sucks to kill a guy. Joe Griffen (James "Doesn't have an IMDB Photo" Nesbitt), the brother of the man Little killed years ago is still tortured by his brother's murder, being as he's felt responsible for it his whole life. As the movie begins we learn that these two men are going to meet one another on a televised special (Little is a minor celebrity, like Dr. Phil but less famous and more likeable despite being a murderer).

What a wacky scenario, right? Wrong. This movie is not wacky, this movie is serious. Directed by Oliver "I did the Oscar-nominated Downfall and followed it up with that Daniel Craig/Nicole Kidman movie disaster nobody saw but everybody hated" Hirschbiegel, Five Minutes of Heaven doesn't waste any time: After a brief narration from Neeson about how sucky the Troubles were, and a flashback to the murder the movie gets going - Nesbitt's character is on his way to meet his brother's killer, and damn if the man isn't agitated to all hell.

Trailers for the movie focused on Neeson, and while he's the Main Name in the movie, Nesbitt is the star, bringing a sweaty, anxious, bad-breathy pitifulness his character's every move. He switches from jittery, angry, terrified, and murderous like anyone with a halfway decent personality disorder might while still coming off as genuine. Neeson, on the other hand, plays it very stoic, which while appropriate given his character's role in the movie, is not particularly interesting. My biggest complaint is that the movie is so short (an hour and a half exactly) that we don't get to know either of these guys very well. We get glimpses of their home lives, and allusions to events that occurred in the decades since the murder, but I feel like knowing more about them and seeing more of them outside the context of their proposed reunion could have shoveled some more emotional weight onto the whole situation. Not to say that this movie wasn't good - it was - the climax is gripping and any moment that Nesbitt is onscreen is an engaging one, it just could have been better.

Breakdown

The Good: well paced, excellent performances, interesting set up, not subtitled (unlike the similarly Irish-y 50 Dead Men Walking).
The Bad: could have spent more time on character development, the murder Neeson committed was far less exciting than any one of the dozens he committed in Taken.

6 out of 10.