A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 13, 2016

Is it fair to blame what ultimately became known as The Troubles on Henry VIII? The roiling unrest that became headline news around the world from the 1960s and beyond has been defined as a political or even an ethnic uprising, but there’s little doubt that at least some of the conflict was based on the rift which developed between Catholics and Protestants, which (at least with regard to England and by default the United Kingdom) can certainly be ascribed to Henry’s persistent efforts to sire a male heir, a “goal” which of course led to his “divorce” (pun probably intended) from Catholicism. At the very least, Henry’s machinations might be a prime example of the law of unintended consequences, and in a somewhat similar way there’s an unexpected outcome to a situation in the opening moments of A Prayer for the Dying that sets its main Irish Republican Army character on a twisting path of guilt, conscience, subterfuge and, ultimately, (maybe) absolution. The film never quite achieves the gravitas it seems to be aiming for, and both director Mike Hodges and star Mickey Rourke have distanced themselves from the final product, saying it isn’t the film they had envisioned. As Hodges mentions in an interesting interview included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, he was a “latecomer” to the proceedings, brought on when some other pre-production conflicts led to the departure of the originally attached director. Rourke was the calling card of the production, and (unbeknownst to Hodges) had control over at least some of the casting. Whether Rourke or Hodges was behind the kind of unusual decision to cast Bob Hoskins as a priest and Alan Bates as the chief villain of the piece is debatable, but there’s a slightly askew feeling to the proceedings as a result, and my hunch is at least some viewers will wonder how the film would have played with Bates and Hoskins reversing roles. Rourke was evidently pilloried at the time of the film’s release for his supposedly inauthentic Irish accent, but Hodges (in the aforementioned interview) is quite complimentary about it and actually details how Rourke had already been working with a dialect coach for weeks before Hodges signed on to the project. Idiolects are the least of A Prayer for the Dying’s problems, though, for the film, despite an incredibly provocative premise, never totally connects emotionally to its characters and, as a result, the audience.

A Prayer for the Dying begins with an intentionally shocking moment where a planned IRA bombing goes horribly awry. The scene is disturbing, but what’s already a bit “off” in its presentation is the reaction of IRA member Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke), who simply stares in almost quasi-lobotomized fashion at the carnage without much of a reaction. It’s an odd directorial and/or acting choice, one that tends to undercut all of the hyped up emotion which follows, as Fallon attempts to escape his IRA past, something that he finds increasingly difficult to achieve.

After the catastrophe depicted in the film’s opening moments, Fallon hightails it to London where he seems to be wanting to just kind of blend in to the woodwork. While the “backstage” machinations aren’t detailed (another potential stumbling block for some viewers), he’s ultimately seen in a secret meeting with a former cohort who pitches an idea to Fallon which will grant him loads of cash and a passport that will enable him to escape to the United States and more or less disappear. The idea of course includes the killing of a supposedly nefarious gangster, but Fallon knows that the hit is the brainchild of another bad guy, a nasty sort named Jack Meehan (Alan Bates). Here again the film’s screenplay hints at character shadings which are never quite fully realized, with the first face to face between Fallon and Meehan leading to Meehan spewing out that they’re peas in a pod (more or less, anyway) without ever really detailing how they’re similar. It’s an especially odd formulation given the already developing subtext that Fallon is a victim of a guilty conscience while Meehan seems to have virtually no moral compass worth mentioning.

There’s some needless teeth gnashing that rather briefly ensues, when it’s clear from the get go that Fallon will go ahead with the plan. And in fact he rather efficiently dispatches his victim, in a graveyard no less (for convenience sake?). Unfortunately, the killing is witnessed not just by Meehan’s brother Billy (Christopher Fulford) but by Father Michael Da Costa (Bob Hoskins), who wanders into the proceedings just as Fallon fires the lethal shot. Again—wouldn’t an IRA operative of Fallon’s supposed expertise have sought out a more private setting to dispatch his victim, or at least wouldn’t he have, you know, looked around to make sure no one was nearby before pulling the trigger?

Already fairly wobbly due to inartful plot conceits and some unnecessary histrionics, the rest of A Prayer for the Dying toys with Fallon’s predicament as he becomes ensnared in competing alliances which don’t have much in common other than the fact that everyone seems to want Fallon dead. A kind of soapy love interest enters the fray courtesy of Da Costa’s blind niece Anna (Sammi Davis), who plays organ at the Father’s church, but even this element is never really properly (or at least fully) developed. Instead, the film finally settles into what amounts to a “simple” thriller scenario with Rourke attempting to evade his nemeses while also ensuring justice is meted out to those threatening not just him, but Father Da Costa and Anna.

It’s worth noting that many if not all of A Prayer for the Dying’s plot tropes are part and parcel of one of the earliest and still most iconic films dealing with The Troubles, the multiple Academy Award winner from 1935 The Informer. The Informer, despite its “early Hollywood” ambience, is a gritty, emotionally involving affair that manages to make an epochal sociopolitical (and let’s face it, at least partially religious) upheaval remarkably personal. A Prayer for the Dying tries to do much the same thing, but kind of like Fallon himself in the early going, sadly misses its target.

A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Prayer for the Dying is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Culled from the MGM catalog, this displays some general strengths while also struggling at times in other aspects, most notably grain resolution. Colors are often slightly tamped down, much of that obviously by design in order to craft a believably drab world for Fallon and his associates. That said, outdoor scenes often feature nicely saturated blue skies and lushly green verdant foliage and fields (the location photography is often quite evocative, almost as a sidebar at times). That said, the outdoor moments frequently display some of the chunkiest, yellow tinged grain (see several screenshots accompanying this review, notably numbers 2 and 10). Things are never incredibly sharp looking, but fine detail is quite good in close-ups. Director Mike Hodges and cinematographer Michael Garfath opt for some pretty wide angle lenses at various junctures, including what looks like fisheye lenses, something that gives some framings a curiously skewed quality and which tends to deplete detail levels minimally. Many times we reviewers tend to think brightly lit outdoor moments provide the best resolution and overall detail, but due to the grain management issues, it's actually some of the indoor moments that look sharpest and most natural (see screenshot 3). My score is 3.25.

A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Prayer for the Dying features a fine sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, one which capably supports some long dialogue moments while also providing occasional punch courtesy of more action adventure elements like explosions and/or gunfire. Fidelity is fine, with no damage of any kind to report.

A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and contains some effects.


• Director Mike Hodges on A Prayer for the Dying (1080p; 29:01)


• Director of Photography Mike Garfath on A Prayer for the Dying (1080p; 11:54)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (480p; 1:53)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)

A Prayer for the Dying Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Prayer for the Dying is one of those interesting misfires where the goalposts are maddeningly within reach but the final target seems to just elude being grasped. I personally didn't have any big issues with Rourke's attempt at an Irish accent, but his somewhat somnambulant nature in this film works against the central plot point that Fallon is an extremely angst filled character. I would have loved to have seen this with Hoskins playing the baddie and Bates the priest, but (to paraphrase a certain American politico) you go the movies with the film you have, not the film you wish you had. A Prayer for the Dying has a number of interesting elements even if it never hangs together as well as it should, and with caveats noted comes Recommended.