Incendiary | Rotten Tomatoes

Incendiary

R

2008

1 hr. 36 min.

Drama

Romance

Mystery & Thriller

List

20%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

34%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A suicide bomber kills the husband and infant son of an adulterous woman, destroying her life.

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Critics Consensus

A solid performance from Michelle Williams isn't enough to save this well meaning, but disappointing, cliché ridden drama.

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Audience Member

Spoilers: Michelle was mesmerizing, such a consummate craftswoman. We felt her pain, her grief, her despair and in the end her feistiness, which she had passed on to her son killed at the soccer match. Literally full of life again, at the end, after nearly jumping to her death. Her poetic letter to destroyer bin Laden was the full Kunta Kinte, raising up her child to Osama's face, saying see what a miracle this is, this beautiful boy whom you saw only to kill. Ewan and McFadyen were typically good. In a world where all sides are willing to accept "collateral damage," not seeing the beauty of the people killed, sacrificed on the altar of power, politics and careers, and the lives disrupted if not ruined. London, built on its own ashes over and over, maybe we're too stupid to stop, but on we trudge, was a nice line. The heart of the piece is the suffering of war yet the refusal to stay down once put down. She even lunged for a life after her husband went cold on her, wouldn't quit on love, found it with journalist Ewan, attractive enough for Ewan and Angus to be smitten by her. Grief and survival, plus the journalistic and governmental games people play and the wreckage of their consequences. But, ah, some won't let the bastards keep them down, even if consigned to suffering in the desert for 40 days or longer.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

dave j

Co-written and directed by Sharon Maguire adapting the novel by Chris Cleave with Michelle Williams as a young happy married mother of one, and while she was having an extra marital affair with a journalist, Jasper (Ewan McGregor) she had met at a pub at her apartment. Her husband, (Matthew Macfadyen) whose job as a bomb disposal unit and her 5 year old son were among the many who were part of the stadium explosion. The mother does a lot of evaluation through the rest of the film which is part of her grieving process. Meanwhile, Jasper is looking for answers.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I thought this movie was outstanding! So heart-wrenching. Great performance by Michelle Williams, and I forgot Beautiful she is. Ewen McGregor handsome as ever. I don't understand the bad reviews at all! Watch it!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

laurie s

It started off as an excellent film but three quarters of the way through went into an unbelievably silly mode with a scene at a train station superfluous and highly improbable which made the film thereafter move down in a spiral nosedive.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

don s

Pointless drama focusing on the misery of a woman who is cheating on her husband - and having an orgasm - at the exact moment her husband and child are blown up by a muslim suicide bomber at a soccer match. The guilt and shame also send her into the arms of her husband's boss before it is over. Dull and overlong, though Michelle Williams is very good.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Llore y llore pero me gusto mucho

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

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Sharon Maguire

Director

Michelle Williams

Young Mother

Ewan McGregor

Jasper Black

Matthew Macfadyen

Terrance

Sidney Johnston

The Boy

Jonathan Andrews

Police Officer at Station

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William Thomas

Empire Magazine

It's an atmospheric drama and a strong turn from Williams, but doesn't tell us anything about ourselves or the terrorists that we didn't already know.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 24, 2008

Full Review

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

It ends up being a compendium of bizarre diversions, most of which are utterly surplus to the film's half-cocked desire to stick with the experience and emotions of its main character.

Rated: 2/6

Oct 24, 2008

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The movie plunges straight down that treacherous black hole that exists between fact and fiction and the inability to replicate either.

Rated: 1/5

Oct 24, 2008

Full Review

Sarah Manvel

Cinemattraction

Director Sharon Maguire, who also wrote the screenplay, has taken a story that could be set nowhere but London and made its people behave like anything but the English.

Feb 10, 2019

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Based on Chris Cleave's vastly superior novel...

Rated: 1.5/4

Dec 20, 2018

Full Review

Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

Rated: 2/5

Apr 4, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

A suicide bomber kills the husband and infant son of an adulterous woman, destroying her life.

Director: Sharon Maguire
Executive Producer: Philip Erdoes, Simon Fawcett, Daria Jovicic, Tessa Ross
Screenwriter: Chris Cleave, Sharon Maguire
Production Co: Archer Street Productions, Capitol Films
Rating: R (Brief Language|Strong Sex Scene)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 25, 2019

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