THE BOXER (44)

Directed by: Jim Sheridan

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox

The Pitch: A former IRA man, out of jail after 14 years, tries to set up a non-sectarian boxing gym for kids both Catholic and Protestant.

Theo Sez: An intriguing complement to SOME MOTHER'S SON and IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, if only in bringing the political situation up to date : set around last year's IRA ceasefire it admits, for the first time, a slim hope for an end to the bloodshed - it's not about fighting but about trying to make a new start (hence the recurring emphasis on kids, symbol of the future). Empathy and sincerity are off the scale ; unfortunately, dramatic impact barely registers. Our hero's motives seem a little muddled - he says he wants to keep his distance from the IRA but also takes an active stand against them, destroying one of their Semtex caches so it won't "kill more innocent people" - and the central love affair is so skimpily-detailed it's virtually generic : maybe Sheridan thought he was being gritty and documentary-like - reflecting the pathos of Ordinary People's inarticulate passions - by giving his characters leaden dialogue to speak ("We can't keep doing what we're doing." "What are we doing?" "You know what I mean") and having them place portentous pauses after every sentence, but the result is as dull as its drab grey light and unimaginative, reverse-angle shooting style. The violent scenes - impressively-staged street riots and boxing matches - come as a welcome relief ; and that surely can't be what was intended.