Streaks of reverence and sentimentality, plus uncertainties of casting, fatally flaw this often interesting, well paced and rarely boring thriller about an IRA hit-man on the run. Fallon (Rourke), sickened by the killing of innocent people in Northern Ireland, has come to England where he is sought by the IRA, the police and an underworld kingpin (Bates), who wants a killing from Fallon in return for a passport and money. It seems strange that a man with nowhere to run should go for such a deal but the execution is duly carried out, triggering off the rest of the plot in which a priest (Hoskins) witnesses the murder, only to be silenced by Fallon's admissions in the Confessional. Rourke, sporting a decent Irish brogue, makes a good job of the lonely Fallon, while a bizarrely cast Hoskins works perhaps too hard (his dialogue isn't up to the passion he puts into it) and it's sad to see Bates so over-the-top in an unworthy role. Action scenes are toughly, sharply staged and the film rarely seems its length.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes