The synopsis of the film can be summed up with a scene at the end. The murderer has killed the priest's dog by slitting it its throat. The priest is distraught and cries. The murderer at the end has the innocent priest in his gun sights and asks if the priest cried when his dog died. The priest answers, yes. The murderer asks if the priest cried when kids were being raped. No, the priest didnt cry, he was somehow detatched. Bang the first shot goes off to the priest's chest. The murderer is in rage: the priest cried for his dog yet not for the raped kids. Closeup: headshot with brains splattered everywhere. The murderer executes the priest. The christian church worldwide has much to answer for, how sexual assault was condoned, tollerated, protected for years. Yet this continues today. :-(

Calvary follows a priest who, while in a confession box, has his life threatened, and how his week goes leading up to the day he's supposed to be murdered. The concept alone was enough to get be hooked, and I must say that I was looking forward to this movie. I wondered how it would handle itself, and was hugely let down. The second the opening scene is completed, it becomes 'a day in the life of a local priest'. Father James, the main priest, wanders about doing odd jobs for people, taking care of his routine, talking to people about things that don't really matter in ways that never gave the audience any reason to care about anything that was going on. Sure, it gets more intense towards the end, but that was over an hour of odd jobs and boring dialogue. The movie's pacing is very dull. It presents an engaging concept, gives the audience a good opening scene, then relies on that steam to carry it for over an hour. While I never necessarily felt compelled to just take a nap, I found myself consistently checking the remaining run time, realizing that I was only halfway and still had the same amount of time left. It was more tedious than it was boring. I just wanted to skip to the end, but persisted anyway. That's not to say that this movie did nothing right. The second half is vastly more interesting than the first half. The characters are, at this point, grounded, and some of them become interesting. Most of them are just mindless stereotypes who claim to be more than that, yet refuse to be any more. We have a black man who accuses people of being racist, then embodies his stereotype to a haunting level. There's the cheating wife who acts exactly how'd you'd expect her to. She cheats on her husband, and that's it. The most intriguing character of all was Fitzgerald, someone who actually had depth and purpose in the end. He was the only character who actually had something going on to make him worth seeing through to the end, save for Father James of course. Furthermore, all the performances are fairly competent. Brendan Gleeson and Dylan Moran, again the two most interesting characters, were pretty good, and Kelly Reilly was good as well. They did what they needed for their characters, and made it just that much more bearable to sit through. The whole revelation at the end when the audience learns who made the threat was, while unexpected, nonsensical in reality. There wasn't any real reason for this specific character to want to kill a priest, despite how much thinking I did about the matter. I just really didn't get it. None of the characters actually seem like they would want to kill a priest, or anyone for that matter, save for maybe one. But it's doubtful in my mind even he would want to kill a priest. Overall Calvary is a tedious drag, but it has some redeeming qualities including some payoff at the end and about two engaging characters. As much as I want to see it again with a new mindset, I also don't want to have to risk being bored out of my mind again. In the end I would recommend this movie so long as you go in with the right mindset.

CALVARY is a disappointing and depressing Irish drama about a Catholic priest in Ireland struggling with life in the present day. He finds himself the subject of a death threat thanks to one of his congregation who was abused by another priest as a child and encounters characters with various hang-ups who seem to delight in taking their problems out on him.I had a feeling that this wouldn't make for much in the way of entertainment and I was right. CALVARY is a gloomy and pointless movie that seems to be destined to assuage Catholic guilt more than anything else. There's no real story here, just the main character interacting with other characters before an inevitable outcome. No shock, no surprise, no involvement, just endless nihilism.The one thing the film has going for it is Brendan Gleeson in the lead role. He's big and warm-hearted and keeps you watching despite his character's deficiencies. The supporting cast is less assured. Kelly Reilly is unconvincing as the supposedly sympathetic daughter character while Chris O'Dowd is out of place and acting rather than living his role. Aiden Gillen is reliably sinister. M. Emmet Walsh has a random cameo. I knew Domhnall Gleeson would show up somewhere and he doesn't have much to offer either. If I want gritty Irish realism I think I'll stick to something like ADAM & PAUL in future.

I have been an IMDb member for over ten years now and am yet to write a review, despite always having very strong opinions. The inspiration has finally arrived after viewing John Michael McDonagh's piercing Irish tragedy, Calvary.The film opens to a beautifully constructed long take of a still Father James (Brendan Gleeson), hearing the confession of an unseen man. In this confession, the man tells the Father of his history of sexual abuse as a child in the church. Also disclosed is his upcoming, long awaited act of vengeance; killing Father James, despite being totally innocent of the crimes in question.From there, we follow Father James on what could potentially be his final week alive, as he attempts to counsel and manage the various complex characters in his small Irish cliff-side town, as well as an ignorant coworker and an emotionally distressed daughter.Gleeson's depiction of Father James is handled with tender dignity, a man dedicated to serving the spiritual wellness of his community as a pillar of support, despite being perceived as a mere expected intervention for a lot of people's unsavoury behaviour. An interesting dynamic to witness is in the many interactions between Father James and the people in his community. They all approach him with such unabashed honesty and shamelessness of their "sins". Their selfish and lazy expectations of Father James to immediately interfere and halt their behaviour aren't always met, creating tension. Gleeson depicts the slow decline of his patience with his community so delicately and subtly that it's seamless. Gleeson, and the cast as a whole, deliver themselves with such incredibly tender and patient timing, in both dramatic and comedic settings. Coupled with the gorgeously picturesque scenery of the Irish coastline, this allows for a completely immersive experience in feeling not only the chill of the winter wind, but also the coldness of the townspeople that radiate onto a patient, but toiled Father James until the final climax. Such townspeople include Chris O'Dowd as a butcher who is potentially violent with his unapologetic and blatantly unfaithful girlfriend (alluringly played by Marie-Josee Croze), Dylan Moran as a painfully arrogant and flashy billionaire returning to town and Game of Thrones' Aiden Gillen as the local soulless doctor (who is also quite the silver fox in modern clothing, if you don't mind me saying!!!). Also a special mention for the very talented Domnhall Gleeson in his cameo as a troubled convicted serial killer with minimal scenes but a performance that packs a punch, as usual. Another sparkling gem of the film is the way McDonagh lights the church scenes. Warm oranges keep us safe among the emotional revelations in the confessional box and chilly blues pull us into the emotional tone of each scene. Each frame is so carefully considered and constructed and beautifully composed. Artful shots worthy of a place on my living room wall.What begins as a potentially mysterious whodunnit (or in this case, who'lldoit / willtheydoit) very quickly becomes a deep character journey that will soak you into it's scenery and psyche. Brilliant film. 9.5/10