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Four Lions

Play trailer Poster for Four Lions R 2010 1h 42m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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84% Tomatometer 135 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
A group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield decide to wage jihad, and they hatch an inept plan to become suicide bombers. Omar (Riz Ahmed) and Waj (Kayvan Novak) have a brief, disastrous run at a Pakistan training camp, while Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) works on an unlikely scheme to train birds to carry bombs. Their ill-conceived plan culminates at the London Marathon with their bumbling attempts to disrupt the event while dressed in outlandish costumes.
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Four Lions

Four Lions

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Critics Consensus

Its premise suggests brazenly tasteless humor, but Four Lions is actually a smart, pitch-black comedy that carries the unmistakable ring of truth.

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Critics Reviews

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Wendy Ide The Times (UK) 03/17/2023
The satire loses its edge a little by making the jihadists such imbeciles, but it’s very funny nonetheless. Go to Full Review Deborah Ross The Spectator 08/30/2018
It feels like a missed opportunity all the same... As far as slapstick and farce and knockabout buffoonery go, this is as good as anything but my point, I think, is that this could be about any group. Go to Full Review Stephen Cole Globe and Mail 02/25/2011
2/4
[Morris's] new comedy has a provocative, ticklish premise -- five North England Muslims become suicide bombers, but can't decide who or what to take with them. Go to Full Review Ali Khoei emel 07/21/2021
It excels in that it centralises the humour around the feebleness of mind and inadequacies of the characters, rather than being insensitive to the actual shattering consequences of terrorism. Go to Full Review Stuart McGurk NME (New Musical Express) 05/19/2021
4/5
Chris Morris' terrorism comedy is a work of satirical brilliance. Go to Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills 10/21/2020
Four Lions actually did manage to make terrorism seem a viable topic for parody. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Miles R @RT06188905 8h I haven’t watched this yet, so I’ll adjust the rating after I do. But the reaction to this movie is already fascinating. It seems like some people saw satire aimed at dangerous stupidity and somehow decided the movie was endorsing the dangerous stupidity. It’s fine if a dark comedy isn’t for you. It’s fine to be uncomfortable. But confusing satire with approval is how "bad takes" escape containment and start chewing through the walls. Four Lions appears to be mocking extremism, vanity, delusion, and idiot certainty. Judging by some of the reviews, the arrow landed close enough to make people yelp. See more Rukhshanda H @RT07713316 Apr 10 This film is utter genius. I think that ( as most things that Riz is involved in) it is targeted for a particular audience. As a member of that audience i get it and love it. But even outside that demographic- it is brilliant if you just stand back and look at it objectively. See more Ryan G @RT72524743 Oct 3 Absolouteley horrendous movie. I cannot understand how anyone can find this amusing. I was absolouteley horrified at the interactions with his son and the open talk around sick sick ideas. To attempt to make light of such crazy and deeply sadistic ideas is just mind blowing to me. How this made it to film is absolouteley insane See more Stephen C @bob25009 07/03/2025 Funny in 1 hour and 42 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated R for Some Sexual References and Language Throughout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $304,100.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more anto m @RT37561112 06/18/2025 A good idea that goes on too long. Its really a series of sketches pieced together into a 90 minutes with some laugh out loud moments. Created by the great Chris Morris who co wrote and direction always makes comedy that has a points out society's glaring problems See more Liam B @RT03130277 05/03/2025 In a world of political correctness gone mad, this film would never ever see the light of day if it was made today. Brilliant from start to finish. See more Read all reviews
Four Lions

My Rating

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Cast & Crew

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Christopher Morris

Director

Riz Ahmed

Omar

Arsher Ali

Hassan

Nigel Lindsay

Barry

Kayvan Novak

Waj

Adeel Akhtar

Faisal

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Four Lions

Four Lions (2009) Four Lions (2009) Four Lions (2009) (L-R) Kayvan Novak as Waj, Arsher Ali as Hassan, Riz Ahmed as Omar and Nigel Lindsay as Barry in "Four Lions." Adeel Akhtar as Faisal in "Four Lions." (L-R) Nigel Lindsay as Barry, Kayvan Novak as Waj and Arsher Ali as Hassan in "Four Lions." View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield decide to wage jihad, and they hatch an inept plan to become suicide bombers. Omar (Riz Ahmed) and Waj (Kayvan Novak) have a brief, disastrous run at a Pakistan training camp, while Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) works on an unlikely scheme to train birds to carry bombs. Their ill-conceived plan culminates at the London Marathon with their bumbling attempts to disrupt the event while dressed in outlandish costumes.
Director
Christopher Morris
Screenwriter
Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Christopher Morris
Distributor
Alamo Drafthouse Films
Rating
R (Some Sexual References|Language Throughout)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 5, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 7, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$304.1K
Runtime
1h 42m