The Movie

Ordinary Decent Criminal is very loosely based on the life story of Irish mob boss Martin Cahill. Although in this case, the less you know about Cahill's story, the more you'll enjoy this movie, because director Thaddeus O'Sullivan deviates away from Cahill's violent thug-like story by changing his name to Michael Lynch and portraying him as a more sophisticated and playful family man. The movie takes on more of an upbeat action path, rather than getting bogged down in all of the political underpinnings that are most notably associated with Cahill.

Kevin Spacey plays Lynch, a smart, cunning mastermind who happens to be Dublin's most notorious criminal. Lynch is always in the spotlight, and he loves it. Because for him, it's not about what you steal, but how well you do it. Joining Spacey in this nicely cast movie are Linda Fiorentino (Men In Black) and Colin Farrell (Minority Report).

Lynch and his gang are best known for their tongue and cheek robberies, and their ability to always get away scot-free, however the local authorities get fed up when they suspect Lynch was involved in the theft of a highly valuable painting. So the Guard (Irish Police) set their eyes on Lynch to nab him once and for all, and Lynch must use his cunning intellect to outwit and survive what seems to be his final demise.

Ordinary Decent Criminal is a decent movie and is full of enough sly action to keep you entertained for the entire film. Though it never commits to being a hard action thriller or a crime mystery movie. It stays comfortably in-between. Although at times it flirts with becoming lost in telling a story the director never really intended to tell. It feels like this movie was made to capitalize on the recent crime caper fad like Snatch and later films like Ocean's 11. And although the plot may be a little weak, it's still an enjoyable movie, mainly because Spacey is great in everything he's in.

The DVD

Video: Ordinary Decent Criminal is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and is enhanced for 16x9 TVs. Overall the picture quality looks rather good. Colors are clean and accurate and black levels look true. However, spots and imperfections could be seen on the transfer several times throughout the movie but is not distracting. Edge enhancement halo effects were nowhere to be seen, so this appears to be a fairly clean transfer.

Audio: Ordinary Decent Criminal is outfitted with a 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track, and although far from spectacular, it does compliment the movie nicely. This is most notable in the action sequences where music is used to heighten the mood. The rear surrounds get little use from special effects and are utilized mostly for the musical score. So really nothing special here, but it does its job adequately.

Extras: You get a few movie trailers, but that's all.


Final Thoughts

I definitely enjoyed this movie. And if you let your hair down and forget the supposed connection to Martin Cahill, this snappy action film should draw you in as well. The plot has some obvious holes and can be inconsistent at times, but overall Spacey does a decent job at holding the whole thing together, despite his forgettable Irish accent. I would definitely recommend renting before you buy unless of course you are a diehard Kevin Spacey fan.