Four Lions/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acceptable Religious Targets: Thoroughly deconstructed; writer/Director Chris Morris was intent on removing the terror of Jihadists by making them look as ridiculous as possible. So far no fatwas have been issued.
  • Affably Evil: All of the main characters except the Axe Crazy Barry.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Omar as he enters the pharmacy
  • Crosses the Line Twice: More than a couple of times actually.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The film manages to make Toploader's "Dancing In The Moonlight" a musical highlight.
  • Dude, Not Funny: Epically averted. Although... see Idiot Plot below.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight The film was released in August of 2010, possibly around the same time that the Geronimo operation, which led to the death of Osama Bin Laden, was being planned.
  • Idiot Plot: Let's face it, if any of the Lions did anything remotely intelligent we'd be watching a completely different sort of film.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Barry blowing up Hassan when he bottles out and tries to surrender to a police officer who happens upon them. A fairly despicable act in itself, but Omar is especially outraged that Barry took away Hassan's choice to give his own life, and thus the posthumous rewards of his sacrifice.
  • Painful Rhyme: Hassan's lyrics. A sample: "For my creed/ I di-heed."
  • Tear Jerker: Omar pretends to be a doctor so he can deliver a coded message to his wife, a hospital receptionist: "I've finished my shift, I'm taking my team to the top floor"
    • Also when he hears Waj kill himself over the phone after trying to talk him out of it... and then walks into Boots.
      • ...and it wasn't even a branch of Boot's, just some cheap little independent pharmacy, making Omar's gesture seem even more tragic and futile
  • Values Dissonance: The whole point of the film, but our protagonists have a hard time putting their finger on exactly which values.
  • The Woobie: Feisal. Waj takes over later on.