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Shadow Dancer
Score: 74%
Rating: R
Publisher: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Region: A
Media: Blu-ray/1
Running Time: 102 Mins.
Genre: Drama/Espionage
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Features:
  • Behind the Scenes of Shadow Dancer
  • Cast and Crew Interviews
  • AXS TV: A Look at Shadow Dancer

Shadow Dancer intrigued me because of its cast (Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson, specifically), but I also thought the subject matter sounded interesting. Collette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough) is a young woman who has been involved with the IRA since an unfortunate family tragedy that occurred when she was a young child. Her two brothers, Gerry (Aiden Gillen, Game of Thrones) and Connor (Domnhall Gleeson) are deeply involved in the IRA and it’s always just been that way for the family. In 1993, when Collette is snatched by MI5 agent Mac (Clive Owen) following a botched London tube bombing, he gives her a choice. Life in prison and losing her young son or turning into an informant for him. Given this impossible choice, Collette agrees to spy on her brothers.

Things are very volatile at this time as peace talks are in the works, but the McVeigh boys and especially their dangerous IRA point man Kevin (David Wilmot) are not in a mood to acquiesce to the Brits. When an assassination attempt is thwarted, they begin to suspect there’s a traitor in their tight ranks. But as Mac soon finds out, his pawn is not the only one in the game and his boss, Kate (Gillian Anderson), may have an agenda all her own. As things get more dangerous, he worries for Collette’s life and she, herself, feels she is dead in the water. As the noose tightens on both Mac and Collette, it’s anyone’s guess who will live and who will die.

I expected Shadow Dancer to be a taut thriller, and while it has its moments, it just didn’t grab me. I felt for Collette being placed in this awful predicament and Mac was a good man stuck in a bad situation, but they were both to blame for the things they had done in their lives as well. The ending did surprise me a bit, so that was a good thing, but overall, I thought the film was just okay. Special features include behind the scenes on many aspects of the film, as well as cast and crew interviews of 5 minutes or less each, plus a 3 minute compilation piece on the film. The editing on the cast interviews was shameful because during the first few words of each interview, there was no audio. When you have an interview that last a minute and a half, you’d at least like to hear the whole thing. I will say that I use my PS3 as a Blu-ray player and perhaps this is a PS3-only issue.

Overall, Shadow Dancer was just average for me. If the time period interests you, give it a rent, but it just never really grabbed me.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
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