Review: Bin Laden Video Not as Good as Early Work
By Barry Normal ◦
18-Sep-2007
A new beard but the same clichéd plot devices
Following a summer of successful sequels, such as The Bourne
Supremacy, Pirates of the Caribbean
and Spiderman 3, one could be forgiven for having
high expectations of notorious film producer and
terror mastermind Osama bin Laden’s fourth movie, an untitled
release, which was aired by most major networks in September.
The release of the film was cleverly timed, coinciding with the six year anniversary of bin Laden’s most recognised work which premiered in New York. This, I thought, would surely make for a real ‘tug of the heart strings’ type of movie, but unfortunately my emotions barely even took notice, as the 26 slow minutes rolled by.
Now, anyone familiar with my style will know that I don’t like to judge a film until the credits have ended. But when I see, just two seconds into the action, that bin Laden has been robed in the same costume he wore in his 2004 offering, I have to at least project questions of the film’s wardrobe department.
Of course, costume is only a minor thing when set against the importance of a good plot structure, which, sadly, was mediocre at best. Instead of sticking to the reliable ‘bin Laden hates the Bush Administration’ formula, it veered off into a peculiar diatribe aimed instead at giant corporations. Bin Laden looked completely out of his depth as an actor, and gave off the vibe that he was silently disappointed with his character arc.
In bin Laden’s defence, the performance wasn’t helped by a countless number of clichéd plot devices, in the form of hackneyed terrorist rhetoric.
The only positive that can be drawn from the film, was the fact that bin Laden was sporting a black beard, after the make-up artists had opted for grey last time round. This transition produced a sense of character background, and an image in my head of the world’s most wanted man dangling his facial locks in a bucket of water, with a bottle of hair dye at his side.
In all, it was lacklustre from start to finish, and was in no way even a patch on its predecessors. For the best of bin Laden, you’re better off watching the 2001 short, Escape from Tora Bora – his first and, for me, his best work to date.
The release of the film was cleverly timed, coinciding with the six year anniversary of bin Laden’s most recognised work which premiered in New York. This, I thought, would surely make for a real ‘tug of the heart strings’ type of movie, but unfortunately my emotions barely even took notice, as the 26 slow minutes rolled by.
Now, anyone familiar with my style will know that I don’t like to judge a film until the credits have ended. But when I see, just two seconds into the action, that bin Laden has been robed in the same costume he wore in his 2004 offering, I have to at least project questions of the film’s wardrobe department.
Of course, costume is only a minor thing when set against the importance of a good plot structure, which, sadly, was mediocre at best. Instead of sticking to the reliable ‘bin Laden hates the Bush Administration’ formula, it veered off into a peculiar diatribe aimed instead at giant corporations. Bin Laden looked completely out of his depth as an actor, and gave off the vibe that he was silently disappointed with his character arc.
In bin Laden’s defence, the performance wasn’t helped by a countless number of clichéd plot devices, in the form of hackneyed terrorist rhetoric.
The only positive that can be drawn from the film, was the fact that bin Laden was sporting a black beard, after the make-up artists had opted for grey last time round. This transition produced a sense of character background, and an image in my head of the world’s most wanted man dangling his facial locks in a bucket of water, with a bottle of hair dye at his side.
In all, it was lacklustre from start to finish, and was in no way even a patch on its predecessors. For the best of bin Laden, you’re better off watching the 2001 short, Escape from Tora Bora – his first and, for me, his best work to date.
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