"a plethora of deadpan and genius one liners that makes the film worth several viewings"

When I was told my next review was going to be Four Lions, Chris Morris' satirical take on the escapades of four suicide bombers from Doncaster, my heart sank. As much as I like a journalistic challenge, I knew writing this review was going to be a minefield of political correctness, dodging the obvious outcry to the near the knuckle scenes and searching for meaning in a film that uses the word comedy and suicide bomber in the same breath.

However this is exactly what our misguided, sometimes moronic aspiring Jihadists are trying to do. Searching for meaning in what they feel is our commercialised, Mc Donald's loving, capitalist world, which inspires the brilliant classic line; "fuck mini baby bell". This contempt for the western world appears to be one of the more obvious motives for their hideous, and completely disastrous plot to blow up first a mosque, then Boots, then the London marathon, none of which goes exactly according to plan. However as repulsed by commercialism as they appear to be, the trappings of the Western World still inevitably and almost invisibly creep into their everyday lives. For example; "Have I won an iPhone?"is the question from the excitable but extremely dim Waj (Kayvan Novak) when he answers his phone mid way through a hostage attempt. The metaphor for heaven being like Alton Towers and the brothers desire to no longer be in the queue for life, but to be on the rollercoasters, notably Waj's favourite, the rubber dingy rapids, is what fuels their desire for their Jihad mission.

Our main man and leader of the pack, and the only one who appears to have half a brain, albeit a terrorist one is Omar (Riz Ahmed). A middle class security guard with a son, a modern Muslim who appears to be as much against parts of his own religion as anything else. While his idiot 'brothers' provide comic relief, Omar's character takes this film to its darkest realms, contrasting his idyllic family life with his desire, and more shockingly with his wife's blessing, to blow himself up. This is reflected brilliantly in Omars bedtime story to his son, justifying death and war through the Disney tale of the Lion King.

This clever and daring mix of terrorist belief with the idiosyncratic cultural references of which we are all familiar is what brings this film home. The film humanises religious fanatics, even terrorists, to show that for every soulless and brainwashed terrorist there is a misguided, lost young person looking for meaning in their lives and finding the wrong way out. This theme is captured best through the bumbling, and confused Waj and the almost silent but stupid Fessel (Adeel Akhtar), who enthusiastically and obediently follow their equally confused leader right to the end showing us that ignorance, even if appearing to be innocence can be a breeding ground for wrong doing. This might sound a tad too serious for the review of a comedy, but don't be fooled into thinking this is the Muslim Hot Fuzz, the film is as dark and as serious as the subject matter. Having said that, despite the subject, the film is undoubtedly hilarious. I've no doubt Four Lions will grow into cult status with it's plethora of deadpan and genius one liners that make the film worth several viewings even if you'll never look at Alton towers in the same way again.