Takeaway plot in The Halo Effect
The Halo Effect
Lance Daly
Stephen Rea, Grattan Smith, Kerry Condon, Simon Delaney, John Kavanagh, Brendan Caulwell
15.
Another Irish film from a now firmly established base, though it's a film which ultimately disappoints because it has not been as fully developed as it might have been.
Rea, one of our most watchable and talented actors, is Fatso, a takeaway owner given to gambling and getting into constant trouble with the Dublin loan sharks and being too generous for his own good.
Daly captures the menace of what seems a fairly ordinary world, that of the kebab-and-chips in the wee small, lonely hours, but he has not given his characters any degree of depth to allow us to understand them.
Rea, though, is outstanding, drawing from a poorly-written character more, far more, than the film deserves.
2/5
