Oooh it’s a comedy about terrorism by the writer of Brass Eye, Chris Morris! Only it’s not. Yes it’s a comedy. It’s written and directed by (A debuting) Chris Morris but NO it’s not about terrorism. It’s about lads. A group of lads from Sheffield. Omar, the sensible leader forced to deal with the astonishingly varied stupidity of his friends. Barry the aggressive paranoid delusional. Fessal, a nervous and confused fool. And Waj, the ‘Special needs Donkey’. All right yes, these four chaps ARE a Jihadi terrorist cell, and the movie does open with a grainy proclamation tape the likes of which we’ve all grown accustomed. But that’s just backdrop, flavour. The real (Halal) meat of the sandwich is the group dynamic, which exists between these men. This could be a movie about a five-a-side football team or some lads in an office. The exact same principals apply. You bicker, you dick about, you take the piss and you stockpile peroxide with the intention of fashioning several explosive devices with which to shake the foundations of decadent western culture, with its McDonalds and its Taste the Difference Cheddar (“Fuck Mini-Babybell!”).

From the opening line (“Ay’up ya unbelieving kuffar bastards!”) To the closing one (“Most loud bangs aren’t bombs, they’re just a scooter backfiring.”), this is a very British flick. I expect people in the south might get a bit scared of the accents and the lack of Yo Sushi! Restaurants in the background, but know this: All five principal actors are from London. Riz Ahmed is a rapper, as it goes, while Kayvan Novak (Who’s Waj was, the definite break out character to my mind) is better known as the FoneJacker (unless you’re me). The setting of Sheffield really helps no end, making everything they do just come across that much more colloquial and rubbish.

The writing is excellent, and it’s actually good that this feels and sounds very different to Brass Eye or Nathan Barley (Another Morris/Channel 4 vehicle). There are the odd bits of dialogue you might spot, should you be of a mind to, which speak to the past. Mostly they come through in the seamless smatterings of Urdu that pop up to remind you that these guys are Islamic. The relationships are very well explored, especially Omar’s home life, in which his wife and son are both completely aware and supportive of his decision to martyr himself. Those scenes as well as some brilliant pieces of business between old friends Omar and Waj, serve as the heart of the movie without becoming mawkish. It makes you want them to succeed, which is an incredibly odd situation to find yourself in.

If I was gonna nick-pick, and let’s face it I am, I’d say the character of Fessal could have done with fleshing out more. I think you understand why everyone else is there, Omar is passionate in his hatred of western imperialism, Barry is an angry white Islamic convert looking for a fight, whilst Waj is following Omar because he trusts him implicitly, and is easily confused. Whereas Fessal is just there. Don’t get me wrong, he’s integral. Plus he’s a very sweet character and you get the feeling that he doesn’t really know he’s there either, so maybe that’s the point, but he could have done with a little more rounding out.

Four Lions is a very brave movie and handled incorrectly could have come across like a very tasteless joke about a very serious subject, but Chris Morris refuses to resort to hanging his film on the central conceit, and as a result we get a very funny movie about lads trying to achieve something, that’s what all the best movies are about really.