John Boorman's highly-feted 'comeback' picture is an entertaining tale that is fatally undermined by its almost light-hearted depiction of a vicious career criminal who thought nothing of intimidating witnesses to prevent them testifying against him and who matter-of-factly nails the hands of one of his cohorts, whom he (wrongly) suspects of stealing from him, to a snooker table. It appears that, in Boorman's mind at least, Martin Cahill's less savoury tendencies can be forgiven because he stood up to the IRA, and you can only wonder how anybody can arrive at such a simplistic notion.Cahill is portrayed as a modern-day Robin Hood, but he's a Robin Hood who steals gold from the rich and gives nappies to the poor. When he's not committing crimes he's a lovable rogue with an engaging sense of humour and a love of pigeons. He lives in a nice house and has a loving wife (and sister-in-law) and he's really just like you and me. The police, meanwhile, are either dim-witted fools whom Cahill uses to provide him with alibis as he carries out his audacious crimes or corrupt bullies who take sadistic pleasure in upsetting Cahill at every opportunity.Brendan Gleeson is OK as Cahill, but he's effortlessly overshadowed by the under-rated Adrian Dunbar as his sidekick Noel Curley. While rarely holding down a starring role, Dunbar never fails to give a convincing performance and he makes the most of a role here that is given scant attention in Boorman's quest to sanctify the memory of Cahill.Enjoy the film – you'll find it difficult not to – but as you chuckle at Cahill's exploits (some of which are highly unlikely) just remember he's no different in character from the scum who steal your cars and stab your sons.

Martin Cahill is an Irish thief but is generally a well mannered man with a good sense of humour. His actions draw the attention of the police, although he always manages to stay one step ahead of them. However his life is one of crime and violence and a major art robbery brings him to be the focus of a police investigation and brings the IRA demanding a cut. When a deal is made with the UVF Cahill's position becomes increasingly untenable.Films about the troubles (or around the troubles) in Northern Ireland usually tend to put me off because they often wear their colours very large on their sleeves and seem more interesting in scoring political points than telling a good story. However this happily manages to avoid that and tells a Robin Hood style tale that is fairly well told.Cahill is a little romanticised in that he has a great sense of humour and is very likeable, but the film doesn't hold back from showing the violence of the life with Cahill having to do nasty stuff as well. For me it worked so well because of the gentle comedy that ran through the story, but it still held plenty of drama and the characters (especially Cahill) held my attention easily.Gleeson gives a great performance. He has got Cahill's little habits down really well – the covering of the face at every opportunity etc. Dunbar is good as are most of the support cast. Voight is an interesting bit of casting that is only used occasionally. However it is really Gleeson's show and his good humour carries the film easily.Overall this film is very entertaining with a dark edge to it. The story is very enjoyable itself but with the dark humour provided by Gleeson it is even better.

Everything, from the technical standards to the performances are superb, folks, this is fantastic film-making. Boorman's direction is pretty amazing, making full use of the anamorphic widescreen frame. The problem I have with this picture is that the story left me cold, there seemed to be a distance between the audience the picture. Maybe the story features an anti-hero? Someone you cannot identify with. The dialogue is a little hard to understand, the accents are very thick, very irish. The film is shot in panavision anamorphic wide-screen. If you haven't seen it in wide-screen, then you are missing out on 43% of quality picture. Overall, fantastic in every department, but the story left me cold.

The General is one of the best films dealing with true life that I have seen. John Boorman has done us all proud both as director and in the Writing credits. As Martin Cahill Brendan Gleeson who bears an uncanny resemblance to the real Cahill is superb bringing with him the humor as well as the hardcore attitude of the Dublin underworld. Well deserved the B.F.C. awards for best director and best actor. This is one for your library as you will want to watch it again and again.