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6 Days review – Jamie Bell storms it in Iranian embassy siege thriller

The Billy Elliot star is terrific as the cocky, swaggering leader of a crack SAS team in an atmospheric real-life drama that’s short on suspense

T oa Fraser ’s real-life hostage thriller about the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London (it skipped a cinema release and arrives on Netflix on 3 November) is thoughtful, well-made, with a couple of excellent performances – and just a bit dull. Told with not quite enough suspense, its pin stays firmly in the grenade as six armed men storm the embassy in Kensington, taking 26 hostages and demanding the release of prisoners in southern Iran.

Still, it’s satisfying to see Jamie Bell , who has sometimes seemed to be stuck in a limbo of man-child roles, properly grown up. Here he plays an SAS soldier leading a team of heavily armed, black-clad heavies called in as backup should talks stall with the terrorists, who are threatening to kill one hostage an hour. Mark Strong gives a smart, subtle performance as the brains to Bell’s brawn – the detective in charge of negotiations. He’s rather repressed in the stiff-upper-lip tradition but also empathic. (As he builds a rapport with the gunmen’s leader, you sense him becoming emotionally invested in a non-violent outcome.) Outside the embassy, BBC journalist Kate Adie (a distractingly stiff performance by the Australian actor Abbie Cornish ) is reporting on the crisis, watched by millions on TV.

The action takes place over the six days of the siege, moment to moment, the clock ticking. It’s leanly told from multiple points of view, without lingering too much on characterisation (with the exception of telephone calls made by Strong’s detective to his worried wife – a role so thin it could win prizes for dullest female character of the year). We get a glimpse inside the corridors of power, too. The late Tim Pigott-Smith , in one of his final performances, plays home secretary Willie Whitelaw, who communicates the still relatively new prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to negotiate with terrorists at Cobra meetings – and her apparent lack of squeamishness at sending in the SAS and risking a bloodbath.

The best scenes involve the SAS. Bell is terrific – a combination of cocky swagger and perfect focus – and there are a couple of stomach-lurching moments when his adrenaline-pumped squad are poised to launch an assault on the embassy, only to be told to stand down with seconds to spare. Then it’s back to tea and a ciggie in front the snooker. Director Fraser was clearly taking notes during Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and, as a period piece, 6 Days is nicely detailed – the interiors, clothes and cars all in shades of fag-ash brown.

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6 DAYS: A Tense Hostage Drama That Makes For Uncomfortable Viewing

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Lee Jutton has directed short films starring a killer toaster,…

6 Days is a big, boldly waving Union Jack of a film, an awestruck ode to the firepower of the British Special Air Service (SAS), and the stubbornness of a government unwilling to give in to the demands of terrorists. Written by Glenn Standring and directed by Toa Fraser – who previously collaborated on the 2014 Maori revenge drama The Dead Lands – it chronicles the responses of the British government, army, police and media to the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980.

And while 6 Days tells a true story, as opposed to a hackneyed fictional tale designed solely to whip audience members up into a violently ethnocentric fervor against anyone with brown skin and a beard (looking at you, London Has Fallen ), one can’t help but wonder whether it was a story that needed to be told again right now, at this moment in history.

Running Out Of Time

The film begins on April 30, 1980, as six armed men storm the Iranian embassy in London and take everyone within it hostage. The men are Iranian Arabs who wish for the Iranian province of Khuzestan, also known as Arabistan, to be liberated from Iranian rule and established as an autonomous Arab state. Before they release their hostages at the embassy, they want all Arab prisoners released from Khuzestan prisons – and once that’s done, they want safe passage for themselves out of the United Kingdom.

6 DAYS: A Tense Hostage Drama That Makes For Uncomfortable Viewing

Needless to say, the British government isn’t too keen on complying with their demands. Instead, a siege begins that lasts – you guessed it – six days, during which increasingly desperate hostage negotiators attempt to cajole the men into, if not releasing the hostages, at least prolonging their lives. However, as it becomes clear that little progress is being made in granting their demands, the terrorists’ trigger fingers become increasingly itchy.

In the meantime, an SAS squadron starts planning and practicing for what they believe will be the inevitable – an armed raid on the embassy to rescue the hostages. Ambushing the terrorists with guns blazing could be the only way to save the hostages, but it could just as easily lead to their deaths, and the powers that be are running out of time to make a decision to make or break the crisis.

Tension and Testosterone

Testosterone is the order of these 6 Days . Among the ensemble cast, Abbie Cornish has the only major female role in the film. She plays trailblazing BBC reporter Kate Adie, who reported live from the scene of the raid while crouched behind a car and set a new standard for literally on the ground coverage, yet Cornish smothers her natural Australian voice with an almost cartoonishly posh English accent that feels as though it would be better spread across crumpets with clotted cream than coming out of her mouth.

Despite the often inadvertently hilarious tone of her voice, Cornish’s portrayal of Adie as a bold woman who was willing to put herself in danger to get her story feels just as heroic as anything done by the SAS in the film. Said SAS is led by a scrappy and charismatic Jamie Bell as squadron leader Rusty Firmin (the real-life Rusty served as a consultant on the film), while Mark Strong gives a nuanced performance as police negotiator Max Vernon, charged with the delicate, dangerous task of communicating with the increasingly edgy men holding the embassy.

This talented trio of actors manage to do wonders with a script that doesn’t stand out in the slightest. However, one doesn’t watch a film like 6 Days for the dialogue. One watches a film like 6 Days for the intensity and the action, and those are two things the film does quite well. Not being familiar with the story beforehand, I had no idea how the film was going to end, which meant my anxiety levels were shooting through the roof during the entire thing.

Like other based-on-a-true-story thrillers, such as Captain Phillips , 6 Days is not the kind of movie that one goes to see on a Friday evening in the hope of unwinding after a long work week; one should be prepared to spend the next 94 minutes soaking up all of the stress and tension exuded by Bell , Strong , Cornish and company.

But Do We Need 6 Days Right Now?

Watching 6 Days is an uncomfortable experience in more ways than one – but, the primary reason why I was unable to fully enjoy the film had nothing to do with its quality and entirely to do with the current political climate. We live in a world where the President of the United States will rush to ban Muslims from entering the country because of “radical Islamic terrorism” but will hesitate to condemn white nationalists committing acts of domestic terrorism on American soil. Again and again, the news media chooses to depict violent acts around the world through a specific lens, one that demonizes people of color and glorifies the stubbornness of white men who stand their ground while wielding guns.

Yes, the hostage takers at the Iranian Embassy deserved to be stopped from carrying out their mission. Yes, it is heroic that they were stopped before all of the hostages lost their lives. Yes, it was a “raid the world had never seen the likes of.”

But did we really need to see it again? In the hostile, intolerant Britain of Brexit, do we need movies like 6 Days to glamorize the militarization of our world and to glorify the government of Thatcher? Do we need yet another movie starring angry Middle Eastern terrorists, as though that is all people from that part of the world are capable of being? I don’t think we do. And that’s why I truly felt uncomfortable watching 6 Days . I felt as though by watching the film I was being complicit in furthering stereotypes and prejudices that don’t deserve any more screen-time in the 21st century.

What do you think? Is it still worth retelling these episodes of history in our current political climate? Share your thoughts in the comments.

6 Days was released in the UK on August 4, 2017 and in the U.S. on August 18, 2017. For more international release dates, please see here .

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Lee Jutton has directed short films starring a killer toaster, a killer Christmas tree, and a not-killer leopard. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Film School Rejects, Bitch: A Feminist Response to Pop Culture, Bitch Flicks, TV Fanatic, and Just Press Play. When not watching, making, or writing about films, she can usually be found on Twitter obsessing over soccer, BTS, and her cat.

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Film Review: ‘6 Days’

Covering the 1980 terrorist invasion of London's Iranian Embassy, Toa Fraser's true-life thriller is technically adept but dramatically muted.

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

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'6 Days' Review: A Dramatically Muted True-Life Terrorist Thriller

“A renaissance for international terrorism” is among the archival newscast quotes used to set the scene in the opening credits of “6 Days” — a true-life hostage thriller methodically tracking the 1980 siege of London’s Iranian Embassy by Iranian Arab militants. The unhappy irony, of course, is that few viewers would be able to identity any particular era from that soundbite, and Toa Fraser’s lean, cleanly assembled dramatization is in its own way resistant to historical specifics: Shot and styled in contemporary, ticking-clock action fashion, it compresses the complex Theatcher-era politics of its fractious standoff into a simplified West-versus-Middle-East conflict that registers as broadly topical.

Technically smart but dramatically a bit flat — with a triangulated multi-view structure that gives stars Mark Strong , Jamie Bell and Abbie Cornish minimal room to flex — “6 Days” establishes Fraser’s credentials as a viable handler of mainstream genre fare, but comes as something of a disappointment after the livelier exploits of his rollicking Maori adventure “The Dead Lands.” Following limited theatrical exposure, it is likeliest to find an audience through home-viewing channels: Generations who watched firsthand the landmark BBC reporting on the crisis, here honored by way of Cornish’s casting as gutsy newswoman Kate Adie, will be most interested in the film’s mildly pumped-up interpretation.

Younger or less informed viewers, however, won’t take long to figure out the essentials of the situation, as detailed subtitles in the film’s opening beats introduce key names, responsibilities and locations — lending the film a veneer of docu-style thoroughness without calling on Glenn Standring’s pared-back script to do much in the way of ground-laying or character introduction. Indeed, “6 Days” gets down to business with swift, cool-headed economy: Its opening minutes depict the violent takeover of the Iranian Embassy in London’s upscale Kensington district by six gunmen from Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, with 26 hostages taken in the process. Scored by Lachlan Anderson and David Long to low, surging synths and stabs of percussion, this nervy, unfussy sequence remains the film’s most impressive.

The terrorists, however, barely come into focus after this agitated introduction, their individual identities skimmed over while their nuanced cause — a campaign for Arab sovereignty in Iran’s Khuzestan Province — is outlined in shorthand. Instead, Standring’s script rotates the perspectives of three unconnected British participants in the fracas: Max Vernon (Strong), the police inspector charged with leading the hostage negotiations; Rusty Firmin (Bell), a lance corporal in the SAS military team waiting in the wings should more peaceful negotiating tactics fail; and Adie, the brave public face of the story for viewers at home, but not a figure for which the film ever finds a clear narrative purpose — though the petty squabbling between rival reporters on the sidelines provides the film’s few moments of levity.

Strong’s anxious, one-on-one telephone exchanges with chief terrorist Salim (a fine Ben Turner) providing the dramatic meat of the film, though they’re hardly kinetic. Perhaps with this in mind, Fraser and Standring attempt to spike the film’s action quotient by sporadically cutting to Firmin and his fellow soldiers as they perform a series of warehouse practice-run ambushes, though it’s a questionable tactic. Without the human stakes of the live situation, there’s a whiff of padding to these scenes; moreover, they risk undercutting the urgency of the military’s climactic real-life invasion at (in case you hadn’t guessed) the six-day mark.

Nevertheless, this heart-in-mouth finale is executed with tight, focused clarity of movement by Fraser and editors Dan Kircher and John Gilbert: Many a bigger-budget blockbuster would reduce such a climax to a murky muddle of grunts, gunfire and fast cuts. Aaron Morton’s handsome lensing, meanwhile, resists the standard grainy-beige aesthetic of such period pieces, instead bathing much of the action in sleek, counterintuitive shades of aquamarine — correctly gauging the slightly clinical sangfroid of the entire enterprise.

Reviewed online, London, Aug. 17, 2017. Running time: 94 MIN.

Production: (U.K.-New Zealand) A Vertical Entertainment (in U.S.) release of a General Film Comrporation/Fightertown, Ingenious Senior Film Fund presentation in association with XYZ Films, New Zealand Film Commission, Lipsync, Dog With a Bone Prods. Producer: Matthew Metcalfe. Executive producers: Nate Bolotin, Ian Dawson, Peter Hampden, Norman Humphrey, Gavin Poolman, Andrea Scarso, Glenn Standring, Aram Tertzakian. Co-producer: Norman Merry.
Crew: Director: Toa Fraser. Screenplay: Glenn Standring. Camera (color, widescreen): Aaron Morton. Editors: Dan Kircher, John Gilbert. Music: Lachlan Anderson, David Long.
With: Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish, Jamie Bell, Tim Pigott-Smith, Emun Elliott, Martin Shaw, Ronan Vibert, Martin Hancock, Tim Downie, Nicholas Boulton, Aymen Hamdouchi, Toby Leach, Robert Portal.

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6 Days Reviews

If not entirely compelling, 6 Days gives us a little to chew on from several different perspectives of these well-known events.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 7, 2019

It's a shame that the story is rather bogged down by a sagging script and only basic character sketches.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 21, 2019

6 Days felt unfortunately like 6 months.

Full Review | Original Score: 5.5/10 | Oct 11, 2018

6 Days takes on a storied event and presents it as a riveting tale delivered with precision and focus.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Oct 10, 2018

Desultory and routine, utterly lacking tension and suspense.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Feb 28, 2018

Don't expect 90 minutes of action. Instead, writer Glenn Standring and director Toa Fraser take a different approach, providing us with a taut, detailed thriller that re-creates a significant chapter in the history of international terrorism.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 22, 2017

More boring than any report from the BBC. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 27, 2017

Boring and flat. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 27, 2017

[Toa Fraser's] gaze goes directly to the facts without dramatizing, much less melodramatizing. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 27, 2017

... accurate and unambitious recreation of the hostage crisis in the embassy of Iran in London in 1980. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 20, 2017

Reenactment of 1980 embassy takeover has blood, violence.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 14, 2017

Bell is terrific - a combination of cocky swagger and perfect focus ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 3, 2017

There is a payoff here, even if the film does come across like an oddly nostalgic ode to the hard-line stance of Britain's 'Iron Lady', Margaret Thatcher.

Full Review | Oct 10, 2017

For the most part, the results are pleasing and unexpectedly thoughtful.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 9, 2017

Right off the bat the viewer is placed in the exact same situation the police and hostages were at the time, setting the precedence for an immersive, if somewhat generic action thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 3, 2017

Effortless and straightforward, resulting in a pleasing and most importantly, satisfying viewing experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 20, 2017

... manages some tense moments and mild intrigue, yet it never allows much room for character development along the way.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2017

A solidly made reminder that the spectre of terrorism has been with us for some time.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 6, 2017

Yet, despite ostensibly doing everything "right", for most of its run-time the film doesn't quite manage to deliver the thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 31, 2017

6 Days is a mostly well-made film based on true events, but its similarity to our current political climate makes it an uncomfortable watch.

Full Review | Aug 29, 2017

Where to Watch

Jamie Bell (Rusty Firmin) Mark Strong (Max Vernon) Abbie Cornish (Kate Adie) Martin Shaw (Dellow) Tim Pigott-Smith (William Whitelaw) Ben Turner (Salim) Emun Elliott (Roy) Aymen Hamdouchi (Faisal) Andrew Grainger (Ray) Colin Garlick (John Mac)

Based on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, this action-thriller dramatizes a six-day standoff between armed Iranian Arabs and SAS soldiers ready for a counterattack.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Reenactment of 1980 embassy takeover has blood, violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

People at opposite sides of an argument can find c

Max Vernon is a sympathetic police officer who's t

Six armed Arab men storm the Iranian embassy in Lo

"F--k," "s--t," "t-ts."

Positive Messages

People at opposite sides of an argument can find common ground and see each the other's humanity, but it doesn't settle the argument.

Positive Role Models

Max Vernon is a sympathetic police officer who's trying to save the lives of hostages but also of the terrorists. Lance Corporal Firmin is a smart, brave soldier. The terrorists don't seem to have planned very wisely and seem puzzled that their plan isn't working perfectly. They want to be treated with respect but they're also oblivious to the fact that they're taking their war against Iran to the streets of another country.

Violence & Scariness

Six armed Arab men storm the Iranian embassy in London, threatening to kill hostages unless prisoners held in Iran are released. A hostage is shot to death. British military tactical forces storm the building and many die in a bloody shootout. The assault on the terrorists includes lots of weapons, grenades, and other devices going off. There's lots of scary yelling by panicky terrorists.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that 6 Days is a dramatized reenactment of the 1980 armed takeover of the Iranian Embassy in London by Arab terrorists demanding the release of prisoners held by the Iranian government. Quick and effective responses by a calm London police negotiator and a strategic British Air Force unit minimized hostage casualties to two out of 26. Several terrorists died in the siege. The assault on the terrorists is bloody, with lots of weapons, grenades, and other devices going off. A hostage is shot in the head and his body is seen, from afar, being removed from the embassy. Language is often coarse, including "f--k" and "s--t." There's lots of scary yelling by panicky terrorists. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Kids say (4)

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

6 DAYS reenacts the 1980 takeover of the Iranian Embassy in London by armed Arab militants demanding that Iran release Arab Iranians being held in government prisons. After the six men storm the embassy and their demands are conveyed, London police send a negotiator to deescalate the situation at the same time that a special operations Air Force team starts training for an assault on the building. At the time, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had made it clear that the U.K. wouldn't allow the terrorists to leave England -- their only way out was as prisoners or "in a box" -- that is, dead. During the crisis, reporters gather outside to cover the siege, and the military team keeps returning to the drawing board as they devise different, more effective ways of going in to rescue the hostages.

Is It Any Good?

This movie is a workmanlike, if fairly flat, depiction of the kind of story that often makes the news these days. Mark Strong plays the real-life Max Vernon, the chief police negotiator who does his best to buy time, keep the terrorists calm, and keep the hostages safe while rescue plans are being devised. The movie does a nice job of showing the emotional connection that can develop between a negotiator and a sympathetic terrorist. In this case, terrorist leader Salim ( Ben Turner ) seems to appreciate Max's efforts to help get everyone out alive, but in the end, he doesn't believe such an outcome is possible. The emotional toll on Max is great, and he appears to believe that by obeying orders he's been given to distract Salim, he has in some sense betrayed him. While this feeling is understandable, the movie doesn't really provide the in-depth foundation during the action to support the decision to spend quite a bit of screen time on that dissatisfaction at the end.

The filmmakers also don't bother explaining much about the difference between an Arab and a Persian, even though that difference is at the heart of Salim's and his fellow terrorists' grievances. Iran is a Persian nation, where Persian is the native tongue. Arabs like Salim, who speak Arabic, are a minority in that country and are discriminated against by the Persian government, based on 14 centuries of Arab-Persian animosity. More could also have been done to illuminate the terrorist strategy behind taking over the Iranian embassy in London, as opposed to just protesting or attacking Iranians in Iran. The fact that none of this is explained adds to the sense that the 1980 event is being treated more as an excuse to make a suspenseful hostage movie than to enlighten anyone on the issues that prompted the conflict. No doubt this depicts an iconic moment in British history that made the careers of not only police officer Vernon, but also BBC correspondent Kate Adie ( Abbie Cornish ) and Lance Corporal Rusty Firmin ( Jamie Bell ), who bravely led the soldiers into the building. Brits who watched the events unfold on TV in real time will probably appreciate 6 Days more than any other audience.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the philosophy behind terrorism. Do you think it's ever OK to threaten people's lives, and even kill, in order to get what you want? Would you change your mind if you thought the terrorists had legitimately been treated unfairly, or is violence always inexcusable?

What does 6 Days say about violence? How did all the threats of killing affect you?

Most of the hostages were Iranians who worked at the embassy, but by chance a British journalist and a British police officer were caught when the terrorists took over. Does this movie make you think about the randomness of terrorism incidents that have taken place in recent years? How can you live without fear?

Movie Details

In theaters : August 18, 2017
On DVD or streaming : October 3, 2017
Cast : Mark Strong , Jamie Bell , Abbie Cornish , Ben Turner
Director : Toa Fraser
Studio : Lionsgate
Genre : Drama
Run time : 94 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : for violence and language
Last updated : February 6, 2024

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6 Days – Review

This was originally reviewed on 18/10/17 as part of London Film Festival .

It’s surprising that it took so long for 6 Days ’ subject matter to receive the onscreen treatment, as it depicts the famous 1980 Iranian Embassy siege and the SAS’s response, seen as “an almost unqualified success”.

6 Days is a methodical and competent retelling of events, following them as each day unfolds, and according to the Metropolitan Police, the BBC and, mainly, the SAS. The film accurately reflects the training, planning and preparation of the mission, named Operation Nimrod, as well as how responsive the SAS had to be to the government and police intel. This does, however, result in an uneven pace and a propensity to get bogged down in smaller, repetitive details.

A convincing and able cast give their all, but the muted character development means there’s not much to work with, despite the depiction of real people and events. Bell does a good job as SAS man Rusty Firmin (although his accent is a little muffled), alongside a focused Emun Elliott. Mark Strong just exudes decency as negotiator Chief Inspector Max Vernon, as well as singlehandedly providing the film with most of its tension. Cornish has a tougher time, sounding rather strangulated as the BBC’s Kate Adie.

Other than a few lines spread among some of the SAS soldiers, hostage PC Trevor Lock and reluctant terrorist Salim, everyone else blurs into unidentified terrorist or hostage. Casting director Dan Hubbard has expertly honed in on the military look for his SAS soldiers and Army officer actors, though.

6 Days presents a fascinating topic, still relevant today. The SAS, previously little-known due to their largely covert operations, set the UK standard in terrorist response, which decades later remains unchanged. It’s a shame that the story is rather bogged down by a sagging script and only basic character sketches.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish, Ben Turner, Martin Shaw, Emun Elliott, Tim Pigott-Smith, Kip Chapman

DIRECTOR: Toa Fraser

WRITER: Glenn Standring

SYNOPSIS: In April 1980, armed gunmen stormed the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate, London, and took all inside hostage. Over the next six days a tense standoff took place, while a group of highly-trained SAS soldiers prepared for a raid, the likes of which the world had never before seen.

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6 Days | Film Review

Aaron B. Peterson August 15, 2017

On April 30, 1980, six armed men stormed the Iranian Embassy in Princess Gate, London and took 26 hostages in the process. These terrorists were affiliated with the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan (DRFLA) and their demands were simple: release their specific list of Arab prisoners and provide safe passage out of the United Kingdom. 6 Days documents the events leading up to and culminating in a dramatic siege of the embassy by the Special Air Service (SAS), six days after it was initially taken.

Presented in a linear narrative, Glenn Standring’s compact script presents an introspective glance into the horror of the unknown. Representing all sides of the conflict (negotiations, press, SAS, and eventually inside the embassy itself), the audience is served up a healthy dose of information surrounding the events as they transpired – without overwhelming us in the process – and showcases each group’s suspicions of the other’s intentions.

Forgoing the standard tropes of political dramas akin to 6 Days , director Toa Fraser elects to ratchet up the tension and present this story through the lens of a taut thriller. And though the running time barely eclipses 90 minutes, the proceedings never feel rushed nor the details ignored. Fraser stacks his film like Lego blocks, each one laying down the foundation of what’s to come, unfolding the narrative at a deliberately reasonable pace.

Carrying most of the weight of the film are Jamie Bell and Mark Strong, both actors strategically playing against type. As SAS leader Rusty Firmin, Bell casts his childlike innocence to the wind and seizes the opportunity to get tough and fast as a stoic man-of-action. Forced to prepare for a myriad of possibilities, Rusty remains steadfast in his determination to keep his team sharp and focused as a potential strike awaits even the faintest gunshot.

As hostage negotiator Max Vernon, Strong is tasked with eschewing his brand of no-nonsense confidence and instead paints a portrait of a man desperate to avoid any human casualties, including those pointing machine guns at innocent civilians. It is through Max’s negotiations with the terrorist’s leader, Salim (Ben Turner), that 6 Days expands its own ideology and presents us with an empathetic villain of sorts. Strong’s work is so deft and subtle, it isn’t until the film’s final act that we come to the realization that he has redirected our own preordained sensibilities to loathe a person like Salim, and we somehow have been retrained to identify him through Max’s eyes.

Though Kate Addie’s coverage of the incident was groundbreaking at the time, Fraser struggles to find a cohesive way to work Abbie Cornish’s spot-on take of the famed newscaster into the foreground. Reflecting back on her position several times, Addie feels more a spectator than a participant in the historical record – at least as we see her here – and leaves the film with its only true weak link.

Hollywood Outsider Review Score

Performances - 8, production - 7.5.

6 Days illuminates a forgotten moment in history in this tense thriller headlined by Jamie Bell and Mark Strong.

Tags 6 days abbie cornish jamie bell mark strong toa fraser

About Aaron B. Peterson

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2017 Directed by Toa Fraser

In the face of terror, a nation will show its strength

London, England, April 1980. Six terrorists assault the Embassy of Iran and take hostages. For six days, tense negotiations are held while the authorities decide whether a military squad should intervene.

Jamie Bell Abbie Cornish Mark Strong Martin Shaw Emun Elliott Ben Turner Aymen Hamdouchi Tim Pigott-Smith Robert Portal Colin Garlick Andrew Grainger Martin Hancock Colin Moy Toby Leach Xavier Horan Te Kohe Tuhaka William Chubb Ronan Vibert John Henshaw Tim Downie Sam Snedden Mia Blake Matthew Sunderland Emma Campbell-Jones Jared Turner Calum Gittins Ryan O'Kane Fayssal Bazzi Kenneth Collard Show All… Nicholas Boulton Scarlett Featherstone Venice Harris Marjan Gorgani Jeff Szusterman Phil Peleton Kip Chapman Ajayshri Scott Michael Wagstaff Brady Powell Jay Sutherland Joel Beckett Alan McElroy Dominic Hughes David Rumney Eric Colvin Sara Stone Margaret Thatcher Simon Elrahi Glen Levy Ghazaleh Golbakhsh Andrew Lawrence John Ramm Taylor Murphy Michael Denkha Robert Hartley

Director Director

Assistant director asst. director.

Hamish Gough

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Glenn Standring

Producers Producers

Norman Merry Matthew Metcalfe

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Dan Hubbard

Editors Editors

John Gilbert Dan Kircher

Cinematography Cinematography

Aaron Morton

Production Design Production Design

Philip Ivey

Art Direction Art Direction

Jon Bunker Jill Cormack

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Daniel Birt

Visual Effects Visual Effects

George Zwier

Composers Composers

Lachlan Anderson David Long

Sound Sound

James Hayday Paul Paragon Adam Martin

Costume Design Costume Design

Liz McGregor

Makeup Makeup

Gabrielle Jones

XYZ Films New Zealand Film Commission Ingenious Media GFC Films Lipsync Productions Fightertown Imagezone Dog with a Dog Productions

New Zealand UK

Releases by Date

04 aug 2017, 10 oct 2017, theatrical limited, 09 jul 2017, 03 aug 2017, 18 aug 2017, 07 sep 2017, 14 sep 2017, 24 nov 2017, 09 sep 2017, 03 nov 2017, releases by country.

Theatrical M
Digital 16 Netflix
Digital Netflix
Digital 15 Netflix

New Zealand

Premiere New Zealand International Film Festival
Theatrical 13
Theatrical M/14
Theatrical 12
Theatrical limited 15
Premiere London Film Festival
Theatrical R

United Arab Emirates

95 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by c.w. scott ★★★ 1

the title is misleading: the film is actually 95 minutes

Review by Ivica_Pusticki ★★½ 6

You know those movies that you start watching, and then halfway trough the movie you "catch yourself" scrolling trough Facebook or something...but you still kind of want to see the whole movie, so you don't turn it off after all!? Well...6 DAYS is one of those movies. Lost my attention halfway trough, but I still finished the damn thing. The ending was decent.

OK movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon, I guess...

Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★½

When your career starts off with a BAFTA Award win, it's usually downhill from there unless the right mix of blockbuster and indie roles present themselves. Jamie Bell came to prominence with his starring turn in Billy Elliott, before a variety of roles in the likes of King Kong, Defiance, and my own personal favourite, Hallam Foe, cast him as just another jobbing British actor dipping in and out of Hollywood with varying degrees of success. He also managed to bag a couple of fine fillies while forging that career across the water, Evan Rachel Wood for a couple of years, and new wife Kate Mara, have been Bell's other prizes in a somewhat stop/start career that brings us up…

Review by Yo_Roboto ★★★½

This is my Argo .

Sorry, everybody, sorry. Fuck the police and fuck military propaganda and all that but (sorry) I just think all this tactical SWAT/SAS shit is just the goddamned coolest. Sorry. Breaching charges and flashbangs and checking your corners are just really cool to me. Sorry.

What we got here is a trim, competent thriller. For better or for worse, it's completely frill-less, opting for lean action and a straightforward dramatization of the real-life hostage situation, avoiding any perspective of the politics at play.

Margaret Thatcher seems like a total psycho.

Review by Jerome1994 ★★½ 3

How does one go into great detail about this movie? At one point reviewing these action thrillers is going to be extremely hard because they are almost all the same darn thing. This one just happens to put a little drama into it and that's it, this basically felt like an extended TV episode of some generic cop show. The acting and writing were bland and the story is very predictable, you have seen this movie 20 times before but done much better no need to see this one.

Review by Nightwing04 ★★★★

6 Days is a surprisingly competent thriller considering its budget and the fact that I never would have know about this had my dad not told me about it years ago. Which is sad because this is a great thriller.

Recounting the events of the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy and the joint efforts of the British government and the SAS to rescue the hostages inside.

Jamie Bell is absolutely amazing in his role as is the totally underrated Mark Strong.

I’ve heard some people say this is a scroll on your phone movie but I disagree, this film has your attention even in the slower parts because you want to know what happens. Just for that I think this film is well worth a shot.

Review by Zig ★★★ 2

On a Wednesday in April 1980, six Iranian terrorists storm the Iranian embassy in London. Twenty-six people are taken hostage. The crisis escalates into a six-day siege.

Toa Fraser's Six Days is a compact dramatization of the week when middle eastern politics was placed front-and-center of an already embattled British government. But Six Days doesn't step back to give us the bigger, geo-political picture. It keeps its head to the ground and hyper-focused on the plot, which begins and ends with the siege of 16 Prince’s Gate, South Kensington, London.

It’s a humming ninety-minute thriller that’s perfectly built for the age of streaming. Small enough to not feel insecure with its lack of frivolous action, but it’s also taut dry…

Review by Michael Jones ★★★

Manages to overall be rather serviceable despite often being dull and containing the worst English accent I've ever heard from Abbie Cornish.

Review by Chris Hormann ★★★½

A dramatisation of the Iranian Embassy siege in London in 1980, this plays things pretty straight, albeit the lion's share POV is from the Western perspective, where it would have been great to have had additional focus on the gunmen who stormed the Embassy. There are some brief moments between Mark Strong (the chief negotiator) and Aymen Hamdouchi as the lead gunman but we hear little of his or his cohorts' background. The final assault is tense and well choreographed so that the final outcome (while it may exist in history) is still in doubt right until the end.

Review by Luis_989 ★★★ 2

Entertaining for most of its duration, but you will forget it as soon as you finish it.

Review by Daniel Shillito ★★★

Despite Abbie Cornish's performance and English accent threatening to self-destruct the rest of the movie, 6 Days is a tight, albeit unambitious thriller retelling a significant chapter in the history of international terrorism. Fantastic performances from Mark Strong and Jamie Bell elevate this otherwise poorly paced and cast film. The final siege of the embassy is well worth the slow burn however and the use of old archival news footage does actually quite well given the three-pronged narrative.

It's a film that could have definitely benefitted from being a bit longer and more fleshed out, giving the terrorists their actual motivations as opposed to the stereotypical and narrow-minded view we are presented with here, but that's hard to do when you have a charisma sponge-like Abbie Cornish.

Review by JD ★★★½

The film depicts the events of the 1980 Iranian Embassy Hostage Crisis through the eyes of a negotiator (Mark Strong, a SAS member (Jamie Bell), and a BBC reporter (Abbie Cornish).

Although it could have gone further with exploring certain aspects of the story, 6 Days is a compelling and well-made look at a shocking real-life event. The writing is very good, especially with its pacing and the way it builds tension as the days go on. Characters are decently captured, and it is interesting seeing the events play out through their different perspectives. The third act siege is very tense and leads to a well-executed conclusion.

Mark Strong is on great form, especially the first time has contact with…

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‘6 Days’ Review: Britain’s Own True-Life Hostage Crisis Is No ‘Argo’

London’s 1980 hostage situation at the Iranian embassy was edgy and taut; the movie version gives it the blandly commercial action treatment

Limply following in the footsteps of “Munich,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Argo” is the terrorist hostage thriller “6 Days,” a dramatization of the Iranian embassy crisis that gripped the UK in the spring of 1980. The core ingredients are all there for an absorbing rehashing of events but, as unveiled — even with a solid cast that includes Jamie Bell in paramilitary gear, Mark Strong turning up the gravity in his voice, and Abbie Cornish as a BBC reporter — it comes off all too often like a routine siege picture with a testosterone insecurity.

You don’t need to be a student of history to appreciate the many tense elements in play when six armed Iranian Arabs stormed their country’s embassy in London and took over two dozen people hostage to protest Persian treatment of their minority in Iran. By that point, the US-Tehran hostage situation had been going on for months, and Margaret Thatcher — newly in power as Prime Minister — was eager to show British strength in the face of rising terrorism (both the Middle East and IRA kind).

While some preferred the idea of careful negotiation with the hostage takers, plans were also in place to launch an assault using Britain’s special forces. On top of that, news teams were camped outside to make sure anything that happened, good or bad, was seen by millions.

So why does New Zealand-by-way-of-England director Toa Fraser’s version of events, as scripted by Glenn Standring — a reteaming of the pair behind the Maori adventure saga “The Dead Lands” — feel so inconsequential and stiff? The main answer is that it’s confused about whether it wants to be a ticking-bomb tale of heroics or a complex insider account.

Fraser winds up with neither, unable to make phone conversations between Strong’s serious-minded police negotiator and the terrorists feel any different from an exchange you’d hear on a TV cop show, and so worried you’ll be bored (as marker “DAY 1” becomes “DAY 2” and so on) that he treats the SAS (Special Air Services) rehearsals for storming the embassy like action scenes in and of themselves. Sorry, but anyone fooled into a quickening heart rate by pretend-raids on a makeshift embassy set in a hangar is truly starved for excitement.

The problems start early. “6 Days” can’t be bothered with threading names and locations into expository scenes — too hard! — so it sets everything up the information-overload way, with the real-life players’ names and job descriptions spelled out for us with captions. (No such tags for the baddies, however; maybe it would have looked silly to see “Salim: Terrorist.”)

Then, when the places get identified with onscreen titles, (a briefing room for government bigwigs, the Royal College of General Practitioners) we also for some reason get their geographic relation to the Iranian embassy. (In case you need to know exactly how many doors down the authorities’ makeshift headquarters was from the embassy, it’s seven.)

Fraser admirably tries to kick-start the severity of the crisis right away, even if the tendency to be stylish trumps a lived-in period flavor. But even with a situation whose nerviness is baked in, it’s surprising how little suspense is generated, even with real-life details like a cop hostage harboring a weapon the gunmen don’t know about, or the constant worry that the terrorists — regrettably ill-defined as characters, mostly seen shouting or demanding — will start killing their captives. Maybe that’s because the title gives away when the special forces intervene. (Hint: it’s after “DAY 5.”)

The raid, meanwhile, is perfunctorily filmed, and an attempt to create an anticipated showdown between Bell’s gung-ho SAS operative Rusty Firmin and head terrorist Faisal (Aymen Hamdouchi, “War Machine”), set up only with an earlier scene in which Rusty stares intently at Faisal’s mug shot, feels woefully forced.

The performances, outside of Strong’s hyper-aware sensitivity as police inspector Max Vernon, barely register — and in the case of Cornish, whose newswoman cadence playing real-life correspondent Kate Adie is alarmingly stilted, come dangerously close to terrible. (I’d be surprised if Adie, who became a star because of her live reporting, isn’t offended by the cynical “I’ve got a scoop” smirk Cornish brazenly wears for much of the film.)

Bell’s SAS character Rusty, meanwhile, feels generic, and is stuck in a loop of waiting with his squad members for the go signal and doing practice drills. It may be reality, but it sure isn’t gripping as docudrama.

When you think of how skillfully the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow squeezed all they could from their politically charged, naturally pulsing tales of counter-terrorist action, you can’t help but view “6 Days” as a missed opportunity.

Review: Hostage drama ‘6 Days’ proves duller than real-life

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As Ben Affleck’s “Argo” effectively demonstrated, movies based on real-life events such as the 444-day Iran hostage crisis can be every bit as tensely unpredictable and thoroughly entertaining as their entirely fictional counterparts.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the considerably less compelling “6 Days,” a stiffly executed re-creation of the events surrounding the 1980 hostage-taking attack on London’s Iranian Embassy that packs all the high-stakes intrigue of a filed police report.

On March 30 of that year, as the siege of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was closing in on its sixth month, a half-dozen heavily armed Iranian Arab gunmen stormed the Iranian Embassy in South Kensington and threatened to begin systematically killing all 26 hostages if their demands weren’t met.

Screenwriter Glenn Standring portrays the ensuing standoff from the point of view of three main characters — a poised hostage negotiator (Mark Strong) well-versed in stall tactics, an intrepid on-the-street TV reporter (Abbie Cornish) and a gung-ho member of the Special Air Service (SAS) (Jamie Bell) ready to eventually take siege of the building.

It’s an entirely workable schematic, but New Zealand director Toa Fraser never manages to link those elements with any sense of immediacy or take advantage of that built-in ticking clock to create much-needed momentum.

The Thatcher government might have met its objective, but “6 Days” can’t help but feel like a missed opportunity.

-------------

Rating: R, for violence and language

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Royal, West L.A.

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3 out of 5 stars
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Time Out says

A solid but unspectacular account of London's Iranian Embassy siege of April 1980.

This brisk Siege thriller revisits the 1980 Iranian Embassy crisis through the eyes of three of its central players. Jamie Bell is the stand-out as SAS man Rusty Firmin – all grim focus and studied nonchalance – with Mark Strong the film’s heartbeat as the police negotiator yearning for a peaceful resolution. Less successful is a third strand, in which dogged BBC reporter Kate Adie (a miscast Abbie Cornish) keeps the nation abreast of developments, Basil Exposition-style. The ticking-clock tension is only defused with every cut back to the Beeb’s radio wagon.

While the story’s ending is well-recorded, Fijian-Brit director Toa Fraser mainlines the build-up with clammy tension. The bravado of Bell’s squad is strained by endless training drills and false alarms, while despite his limitless calm the only upshot of Strong’s calls with the terrorists seems likely to be a colossal phone bill. This yin-and-yang dynamic between soldier and peacemaker offers the knotty observation that at least one party will end up disappointed by the outcome.

‘6 Days’ has a secret weapon, though: its authentic setting. Filmed adjacent to the real Iranian Embassy in Knightsbridge, it’s an eerie time machine for anyone who remembers the siege playing out at the time .

Release Details

Release date: Friday 3 November 2017
Duration: 94 mins

Cast and crew

Director: Toa Fraser
Screenwriter: Glenn Standring
Abbie Cornish
Mark Strong

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6 Days (New Zealand/United Kingdom, 2017)

The film examines the crisis from five perspectives. There are scenes inside the embassy featuring (imagined) discussions between the chief terrorist, Salim (Ben Turner), and his lieutenants as well as interaction between the hostage-takers and their charges. We see the preparations of the SAS (Special Air Services), represented by Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell), as they plan for the operation. Police negotiator Max Vernon (Mark Strong) tries everything in his power for a peaceful resolution – a pipe dream that’s never realized. Representatives of Thatcher’s government discuss options when there really aren’t any, especially when no Middle East countries show a willingness to become involved. Finally, an attempt is made to depict the role of the media via reporter Kate Adie (Abbie Cornish).

Overall, 6 Days works better as an educational experience than a source of entertainment. As with any fact-based feature film, events have to be taken with a grain of salt since the primary goal isn’t necessarily an accurate recreation of history, but Fraser and his screenwriter, Glenn Standring, appear committed to presenting an unvarnished telling. 6 Days works not only as a portal into what happened 37 years ago but as an understanding of the difficulties of handling hostage situations and why it’s easy for things to go very wrong. It’s a worthwhile film, especially for those with an interest in the place and/or period.

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Film Review: ‘6 Days’

“A renaissance for international terrorism” is among the archival newscast quotes used to set the scene in the opening credits of “ 6 Days ” — a true-life hostage thriller methodically tracking the 1980 siege of London’s Iranian Embassy by Iranian Arab militants. The unhappy irony, of course, is that few viewers would be able to identity any particular era from that soundbite, and Toa Fraser ’s lean, cleanly assembled dramatization is in its own way resistant to historical specifics: Shot and styled in contemporary, ticking-clock action fashion, it compresses the complex Theatcher-era politics of its fractious standoff into a simplified West-versus-Middle-East conflict that registers as broadly topical.

The terrorists, however, barely come into focus after this agitated introduction, their individual identities skimmed over while their nuanced cause — a campaign for Arab sovereignty in Iran’s Khuzestan Province — is outlined in shorthand. Instead, Standring’s script rotates the perspectives of three unconnected British participants in the fracas: Max Vernon (Strong), the police inspector charged with leading the hostage negotiations; Rusty Firmin (Bell), a lance corporal in the SAS paramilitary team waiting in the wings should more peaceful negotiating tactics fail; and Adie, the brave public face of the story for viewers at home, but not a figure for which the film ever finds a clear narrative purpose — though the petty squabbling between rival reporters on the sidelines provides the film’s few moments of levity.

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"Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?" spat Hamlet. "Get thee to a nunnery!" Oh, if the Prince of Darkness … er, Denmark, only knew what evil lurks within such walls.

In the first "Omen" movie, the infant Antichrist, Damien - born at 6 a.m. on the sixth day of the sixth month - is given to an American diplomat and his wife to be raised as their own. The adoptive father is told that the boy's mother died during childbirth, but upon closer investigation (exhuming her grave, marked Maria Scianna), he discovers not a human skeleton but that of a jackal. For nearly half a century, that was practically all the backstory audiences needed for "The Omen" to remain one of the most terrifying movies ever made.

Now comes "The First Omen," the latest in a frenzy of high-profile prequels fleshing out the origins of long-running franchises. Tapping into another trend, "The Omen" also got the reboot treatment in 2006, though this latest entry proceeds as if said reset never happened. Set in 1971, the atmospheric period piece fits rather neatly into the classic trilogy setup, creatively reverse-engineering the legend of Damien's birth (the fourth, made-for-TV chapter can also be ignored). Who was his mother, and how did this demon child come to be conceived?

Since horror fans know where things are headed, director Akasha Stevenson and co-writers Tim Smith and Keith Thomas can slyly embed references that achieve full ominousness by association with what's to come - like the nun who steps off a high ledge after pledging, "It's all for you," or the close-call opening scene, which foreshadows how the surviving priest dies in the original film. For most audiences, our imaginations did a freakier job of extrapolating Damien's provenance than this prequel can manage.

That said, Stevenson's consistently unsettling and gleefully sacrilegious offering packs its share of legitimate shocks en route to one glaringly obvious "surprise." Like "Rosemary's Baby" - the film, along with "The Exorcist," that paved the way for this Satan-centric saga - "The First Omen" focuses on the female perspective and deals in the darkest sort of pregnancy anxieties. After all, what could be worse than carrying the child of a jackal, or whatever the film's ungodly parent is supposed to be?

Incidentally, long after Ira Levin wrote "Rosemary's Baby," he followed it up with a potboiler called "Son of Rosemary," in which the assumed Antichrist grows up to be a celebrated humanitarian. On the eve of the millennium, the charismatic 33-year-old convinces the whole world to light celebratory candles, unleashing a toxic substance that wipes out humankind … and then Rosemary wakes up - not at the beginning of Levin's sequel, but at the start of the first book, effectively invalidating all that has come before. There's a risk, in extending any popular horror myth, of diluting the impact of the original.

Stevenson takes a respectful approach to the "Omen" series, if not to Catholic traditions or clergy. In addition to reverently acknowledging Jerry Goldsmith's disconcerting choral score, "The First Omen" brings back Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), whom we saw so iconically impaled in the 1976 film. While it's fun to see this blathering loon alive again, the true protagonist is a virginal American novice named Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), who arrives wide-eyed and openhearted at Vizzardeli Orphanage in Rome, incapable of imagining the scope of the conspiracy practiced within.

Run by prune-faced old nuns (led by Sônia Braga) and the kindly but not-to-be-trusted Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), the centuries-old orphanage serves as an incubator for the Antichrist. Meek at first but increasingly defiant as she discovers her superiors' sinister intentions, Margaret embodies modern audiences' changing relationship to the church: She approaches her faith with sincerity, only to discover a total perversion of her values by the institution's supposed authority figures.

Once Brennan plants the seed of his own paranoia in her, the empathetic new arrival starts to worry about one of the girls, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who keeps to herself, scribbling demented portraits of her suspicious guardians in coal-black pencil. Apparently, Margaret had a disturbing childhood as well, and sees herself in the feral outsider. So she takes Carlita under her wing, assuring the orphan that it's not unusual to experience extreme visions - an admission that gives director Stevenson license to spring all kinds of jump scares on audiences, then immediately dismiss them as hallucinations.

One such scene etches itself in our minds, impossible to unsee. Margaret hears screaming and follows the sounds to the infirmary, observing a childbirth so unnatural, even the climactic delivery of Damien can't help seeming tepid by comparison. It's a wild, word-of-mouth-worthy gimmick, closer in spirit to classic Italian gialli (from which Stevenson derives much of the film's jagged, destabilizing style) than to the Richard Donner-directed original. The "Omen" brand should get them in the door, while this graphic gag distinguishes it, guaranteeing the otherwise expendable entry a certain shelf life.

The movie's going to need it, opening two weeks after the indie "Immaculate," which also plays on a naive novitiate's unwitting role in an outlandish pregnancy plot. It's hard to say which film's premise is more far-fetched, but if you were to subtract the "Omen" element from "The First Omen," it's doubtful that Stevenson's movie could stand alone, whereas "Immaculate" has been luring audiences on its originality. Do audiences have the appetite for two nefarious nun movies?

Free, who plays Sister Margaret, provides an easily identifiable entry point into the film's appropriately Goth-looking milieu. Like a young Eva Green, her face can read as innocent one moment and cunning the next, inviting the possibility that there's far more to the character than meets the eye. Through her, the movie takes a righteous approach vis-à-vis this Catholic sect's transgressions. Ironically, no church on Earth would sanction something so dastardly; it's the filmmakers who conceived such a twisted plot, with loose ends clearly intended to spawn additional sequels. You've heard of faith-based films. A week after Easter, here's the faith-debasing alternative.

The First Omen

A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hop... Read all A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate. A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.

Arkasha Stevenson
Keith Thomas
Nell Tiger Free
Ralph Ineson
Sonia Braga
17 User reviews
47 Critic reviews
64 Metascore

Father Brennan

Sister Silva
(as Sônia Braga)

Father Gabriel

Father Harris

Cardinal Lawrence
Carlita picture double

Sister Anjelica
(as Ishtar Currie Wilson)

Sister Romano

Father Spiletto

Pregnant Woman
Red Headed Girl
Smoking Nun
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Burning Questions With Nell Tiger Free

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Goofs All entries contain spoilers

Young nanny : [from trailer, played in reverse] Look at me, Damien! It's all for you.

Connections Follows The Omen (1976)

User reviews 17

Apr 4, 2024

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April 5, 2024 (United States)
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Điềm Báo Của Quỷ
Viterbo, Italy
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‘Opening Night’ Review: A Stylish Movie Becomes a Sludgy Travesty

Ivo van Hove’s stage adaptation of the 1977 John Cassavetes film, with music by Rufus Wainwright, turns a taut character study into a corny melodrama.

A woman in a purple dress stands with her hands purple onstage, in front of a large projection of her face on a screen behind.

By Houman Barekat

The critic Houman Barekat saw “Opening Night” in London.

In a London auditorium, a work of art is being desecrated. “Opening Night,” John Cassavetes’s understatedly stylish 1977 movie about an actress struggling with midlife ennui, has been reimagined as a musical by the Belgian director Ivo van Hove, and the result is a travesty.

Its antiheroine, the Broadway superstar Myrtle Gordon (Sheridan Smith), has landed the lead role in a play about a middle-aged woman. But she isn’t feeling it: Though she is about 40, she insists she can’t relate. She stumbles through rehearsals, clashing with the director, Manny (Hadley Fraser), and the playwright, Sarah (Nicola Hughes), then goes rogue during previews, taking liberties with the script.

To compound matters, the actress develops a neurotic fixation on Nancy (Shira Haas), a 17-year-old fan killed in a car crash moments after getting Myrtle’s autograph. Convinced that Nancy is a cipher for her own lost youth, Myrtle intermittently hallucinates the dead girl’s ghost, and even converses with it. Myrtle is unraveling, but the show — somehow — must go on.

It’s a compelling story line, filled with dramatic possibilities, but “Opening Night,” which runs at the Gielgud Theater through July 27, is scuppered by a series of poor choices. Smith is miscast as Myrtle, for a start: Her onstage bearing exudes a homely approachability rather than high-strung poise or inscrutable aloofness.

Benjamin Walker is wooden as Maurice, Myrtle’s stage co-star and ex-partner, who Cassavetes himself played charmingly in the film. The estranged couple’s brittle onstage chemistry is an essential ingredient in the drama; here, they seem like actual strangers. Haas’s spectral Nancy is a disconcertingly cutesy symbol of youthful feminine vitality, a sprite-like figure who scurries around the stage in a short skirt, knee-high socks and platform boots — suggesting not so much a young woman as a pubescent child.

The songs, by Rufus Wainwright, are algorithmically bland. Several address aging, including the unsubtly titled “A Change of Life” (about menopause) and “Makes One Wonder,” a duet in which Myrtle and Sarah realize that, as women of a certain age, they may have more in common than they’d like to admit.

Others are about showbiz: “Magic” is an upbeat cabaret-style number about the wonder of the stage; “Moths to a Flame” is a somber, sentimental paean to the indefatigability of thespians everywhere. There is a brief foray into rock opera during an excruciating scene in which Myrtle, having figured out she must banish Nancy’s specter to get herself back on track, scuffles with the girl-child amid flashing strobe lights and 1980s-style power riffs. It’s so schlocky that it almost feels like a sendup.

Jan Versweyveld’s set is a theater within a theater. The rehearsal space occupies the foreground, and a row of vanity mirrors at the rear of the stage represents the backstage area. As in van Hove’s 2019 adaptation of “All About Eve ” — another story about the emotional travails of an aging actress — camera operators stalk its perimeter, transmitting close-up, real-time footage of the actors onto a big screen above the stage.

The idea is to ramp up the psychodrama by bringing us up close and personal, but there isn’t much intensity to intensify. The multiple angles add little to the experience. (The occasional bird’s-eye view is particularly unnecessary, unless you happen to have an interest in the topography of hairlines.) A screen caption at the start of the show informs us that a documentary film crew is recording the company’s rehearsals — a plot device that is supposed to make this camerawork feel less like a gratuitous gimmick, but so flimsily transparent that it has the opposite effect.

There are one or two good moments, including a tense rehearsal scene in which Myrtle objects to having to endure an onstage slap. She says it’s humiliating, but Manny insists it’s artistically necessary. Smith renders the standoff with a bleak comic pathos: At one point she even slaps herself to forestall the blow. (For van Hove, who is known for pushing his performers to the limit, this material is close to home.) Near the end, as the characters make their final preparations for opening night, the big screen cuts to recorded footage of theatergoers passing through the Gielgud foyer a couple of hours earlier — a clever touch that spurred a ripple of amused murmurs from the audience. But these are slim pickings.

As an artist yearning to take back control of her narrative, Myrtle should resonate at a time when questions of agency — for women and minorities, among others — are on many people’s minds. But van Hove’s corny treatment trivializes her suffering. Cassavetes’s movie had an elliptical quality that drew viewers in through the strength of its narrative artifice and the power of the actors’ performances; here, the story never comes to life, and the themes are labored. Van Hove has transformed a taut, subtly observed character study into a sludgy melodrama.

Opening Night Through July 27 at the Gielgud Theater in London; openingnightmusical.com .

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COMMENTS

6 Days review
6 Days review - Jamie Bell storms it in Iranian embassy siege thriller. The Billy Elliot star is terrific as the cocky, swaggering leader of a crack SAS team in an atmospheric real-life drama ...
6 Days
Highly trained SAS operatives prepare a counterattack, hoping to end the hostage situation in one swift blow. Rating: R (Violence and Language) Genre: Action, Mystery & thriller, History, Drama ...
6 DAYS: A Tense Hostage Drama That Makes For ...
Lee Jutton. 6 Days is a big, boldly waving Union Jack of a film, an awestruck ode to the firepower of the British Special Air Service (SAS), and the stubbornness of a government unwilling to give in to the demands of terrorists. Written by Glenn Standring and directed by Toa Fraser - who previously collaborated on the 2014 Maori revenge drama ...
Review: A Hostage Standoff Unfolds in '6 Days'
Action, Drama, History, Thriller. R. 1h 34m. By Ben Kenigsberg. Aug. 17, 2017. "6 Days" is drawn from a real event in 1980 when gunmen who identified themselves as members of Iran's Arabic ...
Film Review: '6 Days'
Film Review: '6 Days'. Covering the 1980 terrorist invasion of London's Iranian Embassy, Toa Fraser's true-life thriller is technically adept but dramatically muted. "A renaissance for ...
6 Days (2017)
6 Days: Directed by Toa Fraser. With Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish, Martin Shaw. Based on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, this action-thriller dramatizes a six-day standoff between armed Iranian Arabs and SAS soldiers ready for a counterattack.
6 Days
6 Days is a mostly well-made film based on true events, but its similarity to our current political climate makes it an uncomfortable watch. Full Review | Aug 29, 2017. Load More
6 Days (2017)
A biographical action film about the 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London, and the heroic SAS soldiers that ended it. The movie was directed by Toa Fraser, and it was written by Glenn Standring. It stars Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish and Ben Turner.
6 Days
6 Days is without question a flawed film. For a film that barely reaches 90 minutes, there did feel like a significant amount of filler. The constant use of subtitles and character title cards was unnecessary.
6 Days (2017)
Based on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, this action-thriller dramatizes a six-day standoff between armed Iranian Arabs and SAS soldiers ready for a counterattack.
6 Days (2017 film)
6 Days is a 2017 action thriller film directed by Toa Fraser and written by Glenn Standring. A British-New Zealand production, it is based on the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London and stars Jamie Bell, Abbie Cornish, Mark Strong and Martin Shaw.. The siege situation is presented from three perspectives: that of negotiator Max Vernon (Mark Strong), SAS leader Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell) and ...
6 Days Movie Review
What you will—and won't—find in this movie. "F--k," "s--t," "t-ts." Parents need to know that 6 Days is a dramatized reenactment of the 1980 armed takeover of the Iranian Embassy in London by Arab terrorists demanding the release of prisoners held by the Iranian government. Quick and effective responses by a calm London police negotiator ...
6 Days
6 Days - Review. This was originally reviewed on 18/10/17 as part of London Film Festival. It's surprising that it took so long for 6 Days ' subject matter to receive the onscreen treatment, as it depicts the famous 1980 Iranian Embassy siege and the SAS's response, seen as "an almost unqualified success". 6 Days is a methodical and ...
6 Days
6 Days documents the events leading up to and culminating in a dramatic siege of the embassy by the Special Air Service (SAS), six days after it was initially taken. Presented in a linear narrative, Glenn Standring's compact script presents an introspective glance into the horror of the unknown.
‎6 Days (2017) directed by Toa Fraser • Reviews, film
Review by Daniel Shillito ★★★ Despite Abbie Cornish's performance and English accent threatening to self-destruct the rest of the movie, 6 Days is a tight, albeit unambitious thriller retelling a significant chapter in the history of international terrorism. Fantastic performances from Mark Strong and Jamie Bell elevate this otherwise ...
'6 Days' Review: Britain's Own True-Life Hostage Crisis Is No 'Argo'
'6 Days' Review: Britain's Own True-Life Hostage Crisis Is No 'Argo' London's 1980 hostage situation at the Iranian embassy was edgy and taut; the movie version gives it the blandly ...
Review: Hostage drama '6 Days' proves duller than real-life
Aug. 17, 2017 11:55 AM PT. As Ben Affleck's "Argo" effectively demonstrated, movies based on real-life events such as the 444-day Iran hostage crisis can be every bit as tensely ...
Review: 6 Days
By the end, Toa Fraser's film tellingly leaves the root causes of the militant group's malcontent entirely unexplored. We never see Margaret Thatcher or even hear her voice until the final minutes of 6 Days, yet the British prime minister's cold, implacable presence pervades nearly every frame of director Toa Fraser's film.
6 Days 2017, directed by Toa Fraser
6 Days. Film; 3 out of 5 stars. Recommended ©DR. Advertising. Time Out says. 3 out of 5 stars. A solid but unspectacular account of London's Iranian Embassy siege of April 1980.
6 Days
A movie review by James Berardinelli. On April 30, 1980, six men invaded the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate, London. The resulting crisis, in which 26 people were taken hostage, led to a daring rescue by England's special forces after six days' of tense negotiations went nowhere. The events were televised around the world, making this one ...
Netflix UK film review: 6 Days
David Farnor | On 05, Nov 2017. Director: Toa Fraser Cast: Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish Certificate: 15 Watch 6 Days online in the UK: Netflix UK. It's a sad sign of the times that the words "Embassy siege" could easily come from any news headline, but in 1980, it happened in London, as six men stormed the Iranian Embassy and held 27 people hostage for nearly a week. 6 Days ...
Watch 6 Days
6 Days. 2017 | Maturity rating:15 | 1h 34m | Thriller. When armed gunmen seize the Iranian Embassy in 1980, a tense six-day standoff ensues while elite British soldiers prepare for a dangerous raid. Starring:Jamie Bell,Abbie Cornish,Mark Strong. Watch all you want.
Film Review: '6 Days'
"A renaissance for international terrorism" is among the archival newscast quotes used to set the scene in the opening credits of "6 Days." /pc17#038;c26035310#038;c310000#038;cv2.0#038;cj1" class ...
'The First Omen' Review: The Days Before Damien
In Arkasha Stevenson's hands, it can take us on a pretty fun ride. "The First Omen" is about everything before Damien (a.k.a. the Antichrist incarnate), following Margaret (Nell Tiger Free ...
Bramayugam
Bramayugam (transl. The Age of Madness) is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language folk horror film written and directed by Rahul Sadasivan and jointly produced by Night Shift Studios and YNOT Studios.The film stars Mammootty, Sidharth Bharathan and Arjun Ashokan.The film contains elements of sacred mystery, mythical and folklore of Kerala.. The film was digitally streaming on SonyLIV from 15 March 2024.
'The First Omen' Review: A Decently Executed Prequel Pales Next to
In the first "Omen" movie, the infant Antichrist, Damien - born at 6 a.m. on the sixth day of the sixth month - is given to an American diplomat and his wife to be raised as their own.
The First Omen (2024)
The First Omen: Directed by Arkasha Stevenson. With Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Sonia Braga, Tawfeek Barhom. A young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, but encounters a darkness that causes her to question her faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.
Movie Review: Ken Loach, longtime chronicler of social ills, seeks a
After nearly six decades of filmmaking, hope is not too bad a place to end up. "The Old Oak," a Zeitgeist Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 113 minutes.
'Opening Night' Review: Ivo van Hove Makes a Stylish Movie Into a
Ivo van Hove's stage adaptation of the 1977 John Cassavetes film, with music by Rufus Wainwright, turns a taut character study into a corny melodrama. By Houman Barekat The critic Houman Barekat ...

6 Days review – Jamie Bell storms it in Iranian embassy siege thriller

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Film Review: ‘6 Days’

Reviewed online, London, Aug. 17, 2017. Running time: 94 MIN.

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