Killing Bono (2011)

Now that I’m back from sunny California I went ahead and jumped back into a movie a day with Killing Bono. Now after a miniscule amount of research I learned that this film is (loosely?) based on a memoir, which makes it all the more interesting to me.

First things first, I LOVED IT! It was funny and a sense of everything about to fall apart loomed throughout the whole thing, truly wonderful.

I think what I enjoyed the most, for once, was Ben Barnes’ acting. I think he tends to get roles that are meant for pretty boys, and hey, why not? But at the same time, they almost seem like the type of roles that don’t have much in the way of character development. This role of Neil McCormick, however, was extremely well written.

(SPOILER ALERT BELOW)

The story starts off with the McCormick brothers, Neil and the younger Ivan, in high school with their friends who are starting a band that Ivan tries out for. The band, who later become U2, want Ivan in the band, but Neil asks Paul (Bono) to keep him out because he’s going to be in Neil’s band.

When U2 begin to skyrocket, Neil is filled with jealousy, anger, and guilt because he knows that he held his brother back from being a part of the band’s success. His actions then are desperate and fueled by trying to one-up Bono and U2 and in his desperation he gets involved with a bad crowd.

(END OF SPOILER)

What I liked about the Neil character is his flaws. The poor guy can’t seem to catch a break, but by God, that’s not going to stop him from trying to outdo the biggest band in the world at that point. You see him making all the wrong choices and cringe, but on some level, if it were you, you’d probably make the exact same choices. Then, Bono becomes the embodiment of that person you hate without actually having a good reason to, you just do.

The film has great character development, relatable characters, and it’s just generally a fun story to see unfold. The cast in this film does a fantastic job too. This was the last film with the late Pete Postlethwaite, who is incredibly endearing in the role of Karl. As I said before, Ben Barnes does a great job as Neil. Then, you have Robert Sheehan, who I just love seeing in Irish roles. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it.