This movie is based on a true story. There were 2 friendly rival bands playing in Dublin. One of them changed their name to "U2" and we know the rest of that story. Bono, wanted the guitar player off the rival band. Rather than directly ask the guitar player, Ivan, he asks his brother Neil, the band's leader, who refuses. Neil believes his band will become better than U2 (who haven't cut their first album) and he is doing Ivan a favor. Ivan doesn't realize he had a chance to play for what will be the world's most popular band until...Meanwhile, in order to become big, the band gets involved with the Irish mafia. They end up playing strip joints before borrowing money to go to London. Finally near the end of the movie, we understand the title. Neil believes all his problems are caused by Bono...if he could just kill him. The movie title is a hook and has little to do with this extraordinary film, a must for rock fans.
Martin McCann did an excellent job playing Bono. The movie was funny and entertaining.
"Remember only this: the measure of a man is what's left when fame falls away... oh, and another thing: get as much sex as you can!"
F-bomb, sex, nudity.
No members of U2 were harmed in making this film.
The core of the story is that, contemporaneously with the embryonic U2 who initially called themselves `The Hype' another schoolboy band in Dublin led by the McCormack brothers, Neil (the older, played by Ben Barnes) and Ivan (the younger, talented, guitar player played by Robert Sheehan) was starting up. Neil believes his band to be better than Bono's outfit, so when Bono asks Neil to release his brother Ivan from his band because he wants him for U2, Neil declines the first in a long line of poor decisions on Ivan's behalf which costs his younger brother an `A-list' musical career.
The story then develops as in parallel with U2's rapid international success, Neil and Ivan stumble from one hilarious episode to the next and suffer continuous frustration and disappointment in `making it big'. Invariably, Neil makes poor decisions even when opportunity comes knocking and always believes his band `Shook Up' can make it with no help from U2, who offer to get them a recording contract and a place as support band on their tour, which Neil declines without ever consulting his brother. The tribulations include becoming indebted to a psychopathic Irish mafia gang leader; playing sleazy strip joints to an apathetic audience; scheduling a breakthrough gig to coincide with The Pope's mass in Phoenix Park; and escape to London where they again miss the chance of a recording contract but rent a run-down loft apartment from the excellent and extremely camp Pete Postlethwaite (in his final film role) who opens up a whole new social life for the boys.
Success in a small way did come eventually to the McCormacks' band but they might have been better known, and sooner, without Neil's self-confessed blunders. The story is fast-paced and the script good with plenty of laugh-out-loud dialogue, especially when involving Peter Serafinowicz as the frequently lethal but narcissistic Irish Mafia king, making a great success of a difficult role. Martin McCann is particularly convincing as Bono: he even looks like him, and has his persona to a `T'.
`Killing Bono' is a good way to spend a couple of hours and almost everyone I know who has seen it is of the opinion that it deserves a wider audience. You don't need to be a U2 fan, or even a rock music fan, to enjoy it.Killing Bono is one of those films which has received surprisingly little public recognition, but which has been rated highly by nearly everyone who has seen it. It certainly deserves a much wider audience.
The story line is based on Neil and Ivan McCormick, who were contemporaries of Bono and the other members of U2. Like U2, they had a sixth form band and high aspirations. Neil always felt that his band should be at least as successful as Bono's and as U2 became the most successful band on the planet, this rivalry prompts him to make a series of disastrous mistakes as he seeks the success he craves. As the older brother he tends to make decisions, normally bad ones, without consulting Ivan. Ivan is also blissfully unaware that Bono wanted to recruit him for U2, but Neil vetoed it, and is understandably less than delighted when he does eventually discover this. Neil seems to have a special talent for getting Shook Up booked for the most inappropriate gigs. The one which clashed with the Pope's visit to Ireland and another in a sleazy strip joint being particularly hilarious.
This is quite a light hearted film, at times very funny and the sound track is excellent. When we hear the music of Shook Up, the McCormicks' band, it is actually rather good which really makes you wonder why they sunk without trace and were not more successful. There are some very good performances, notably by the late Pete Postlethwaite making his last appearance as Karl, the landlord, and Peter Serafinowicz as Hammond, the wonderfully insincere agent. Highly recommended!
Read Best Reviews of Killing Bono (2011) Here
"Killing Bono", one of the better films I saw at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival, is a darkly funny, bittersweet and thoroughly engaging rock `n' roll fable from the UK, based on a true story. A cross between "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and "I Shot Andy Warhol", it revisits familiar territory: the trials and tribulations of the "almost famous". Dublin-based writer/aspiring rock star Neil McCormick (Ben Barnes) co-founds a band called Yeah! Yeah! with his brother Ivan (Robert Sheehan) right about the same time that their school chum Paul Hewson puts together a quartet who call themselves The Hype. The two outfits engage in a friendly race to see who can get signed to a label first. Eventually, the Hype change their name to U2, Hewson reinvents himself as "Bono" and-well, you know. In the meantime, the McCormick brothers go nowhere fast, as the increasingly embittered and obsessed Neil plays Salieri to Bono's Mozart. There are likely very few people on the planet who know what it feels like to be Pete Best (aside from Pete Best)-but I suspect that one of the players in this particular drama knows that feeling-and my heart goes out to him (no spoilers!). Nick Hamm directs a wonderful cast, which includes a fine swan song performance from the late great Pete Postlethwaite.Want Killing Bono (2011) Discount?
I really wasn't expecting much from "Killing Bono", but it's a nice surprise: very well made with terrific acting! The music is terrific, too. Sure, they could have left out use of the tobacco drug and still had a great movie, but besides that flaw, I'd recommend this hidden gem to nearly anyone over 18. And even if you'd never heard of U2, it would STILL work.Save 5% Off
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