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Summary: A Very Good and Moving Film
Review: Excellent acting by Liam Neeson and Stephen Rea, but Julia Roberts and Alan Rickman lose their Irish accents at times and overact at others. Great recreations of Dublin of 80-85 years ago. Very moving scenes involving the Irish people fighting an oppressive British rule, although I would have liked Neil Jordan to have been historically accurate about the British violence in the stadium (a dozen persons killed and no armored vehicles) and not been ambiguous about de Valera being involved in Collins' death (since Jordan believes that he had nothing to do with it, according to an interview in a good documentary on the film, which is included on the DVD).
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Summary: All of Irelands heroes are martyrs ...
Review: ...goes the saying in Ireland, and Collins was one of them. Liam Neeson is great. There is a dark, dreary and incredibly passionate atmosphere to the whole film that makes you understand the fury and vision of this man. A must for Ireland lovers.
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Summary: A Historical Figure Relevant to our National Tragedy
Review: While this is a tale of an Irish struggle for autonomy from perceived British tyranny. Michael Collins is a good primer into the mind of terrorists and worth viewing for people who want to understand why people do unthinkable things to make their point known. Terrorism is the tool of people to weak to engage in a war yet desire to have their pain and anger acknowleged by the mighty. While on a much smaller scale, it Michael Collins gives a perspective that is relevant to todays events. I thought about this movie many times since the Trade Center bombings. The film does not sympathize with those who commit random acts of violence and Michael Collins pays a great price for breaking from the hardcore wing of the IRA to create a first step compromise. The film is a good historical lesson, beautifully shot and is food for thought as we enter into our next epic chapter of American life.
Rating: 
Summary: An Introduction to a Time of Troubles
Review: "Michael Collins" tells the story of one of Ireland's great patriots, who as a young man had a part in the Easter Rising of 1916, and then battled the British guerilla-style up through the establishment of the Free State before being murdered himself.Liam Neeson does a fine job as Collins, but there are two BAD performances in the film which hurt its overall effectiveness. First, Julia Roberts does a terrible job as the woman Collins loves. Bad brogue and just bad attitude. Then Alan Rickman, who I thought did splendid work in "Sense and Sensibility" is perfectly horrid as Eamonn DaValera. The scene where he makes an imprint of his jail key is so ludicrous, it looked like camp. Also, the film suggests that DaValera had a hand in Collins' murder, which undercuts the importance of DaValera himself as an Irish patriot, long-time President of the country. Best for Neeson and daring escapes from the Black and Tans.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE but.......
Review: "Michael Collins" is a fantastic movie, but it doeshave some things about it that [where not good]. Julia Roberts should never have been in this movie and the part about Harry dying in the sewers in inaccurate and it portrayed De Valera as an evil bad-guy, but other than that it is a fantastic movie. I recomend it to anyone interested in the history of Ireland.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad movie, lousy history
Review: It all looked so promising - at last, a big-budget movie about Ireland's history and actually directed and screenwritten by an Irishman! Tax breaks from the Irish government and thousands of Dubliners willing to work for free as extras gave it an added boost. So what went wrong? First of all, we have the Oirish cliches. Take this one. Mr Collins makes a speech on a donkey cart. There were such things as platforms in early 20th century Ireland, but let that pass. Then the polis come. Collins gets down from the cart and headbutts someone. Mob take out many hurleys and start headwhacking. The whys and wherefores are a mystery here. It's the modern version of the obligatory barfight scene. Irish public are violent louts whose innate thuggery must be harnessed by a fellow thug in order to behave loutishly towards bigger thugs? Did anyone actually read the facts about the IRA campaign of guerilla warfare? We get the idea that the whole war, though outwardly aimed at England, is just an internal squabble - which is exactly how the English tried to portray it. For an idea of the lost potential of such a scene, read this report from the English 'Daily Mail' of a mass meeting in Ennis, Co. Clare, in 1917 for a flavour of the time: "It was a day of triumph for the tall, slim young man in the romantic green uniform. De Valera's arrival on the platform...was the signal for shattering cheers. In the square and its conveying streets he faced 10,000 men...As the cheers roared around him, De Valera held up his hand. There was instantly a dead silence...[He] himself said very little. 'I am not here to speak,' he cried. 'The time for speechmaking is over. The time to act has come!'" And then the story. It is well known that most real lives don't translate very well to the screen, so subtelty and imagination must be applied liberally. Unfortunately, Collins's true story doesn't lend itself very well to a movie, as the story of, say, Patrick Pearse or Eamon de Valera would. Their lives had real cinematic qualities - heroism, political vision, idealism etc, that is lacking here. Instead of fictionalising the character, which is usually necessary for a successful dramatic narrative, Jordan used the actual facts and twisted them, which only usually works in history, when the historian isn't very particular about the truth. Thus, instead of being a valuable asset to the republican movement, Collins *is* the republican movement - so much for poor aul' Cathal Brugha, who organised the War of Independence, with the assistance of Richard Mulcahy and the constant involvement of de Valera, who was the senior surviving commander from the 1916 Rising. (Brugha was also a prominent 1916 survivor.) Believe it or not, Collins *was* just the 'head of a subsection', as Cathal Brugha (portrayed as a raving lunatic, naturally) famously said. One doesn't wish to underestimate Collins's role, but it was almost exclusively in intelligence. Think of how interesting a film based on Collins's espionage might have been, instead of the fruitless insistence that he was the Big Fella, he really was! Instead of the statesman that he was (recognised all but officially as the President of the Irish Republic in America, where he toured and raised funds in 1919-20), de Valera 'becomes' a mere conniver, whose only interest is...well, it's not explained, really, but we just *know* he's evil. To set the record straight, all Jordan's insinuations about his motives are wrong. He did not suddenly jump from being a little, egotistical man, to one known internationally for his integrity and his opposition to imperialism - and fascism - overnight. He also had a much greater involvement in the War of Independence than he's given credit for, and neither he nor Brugha approved of Collins's occasional 'revenge' killings. And so on. As for the acting, the standard was poor. Neeson was alright, but the others were, frankly, atrocious. (Poor aul' Harry Boland, portrayed as a weakling by Quinn, was most definitely *not* killed in a sewer but gunned down in a hotel room by a murder gang. And why was Dev, in his 30s at the time, made to look old enough to be a grandfather? That's apart from the fact that they really should have given him a moustache to twirl to make him the complete stage villian. And let's not mention the woeful miscasting of Julia Roberts...) Such a pity, really. I think we all in Ireland deserve a better showing, really, after so much Hollywood misinterpretation of Ireland.
Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: YES! At last, a phenomenal movie on the great Irish hero! What a shame historical accuracy played little or no part in the portrayal of his British opponents. Seens of Anglo-Saxon butchery and the torture of an IRA terrorist who actually died of old age dozens of years later add this film to a long line of quasi-historical anti-English bunkum Hollywood has churned out in recent years... Braveheart, Titanic, The Patriot etc etc.
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Summary: Michael Collins an Irish Patriot
Review: Michael Collins is a great movie on DVD. As would be expected on the DVD format the picture and sound quality are excellent. This movie is wonderful because it shows the contradictory nature of this great and complex man. In once sense caring and friendly but also tough and ruthless when nessisary. This movie also showcases the struggle for Irish freedom from the British Empire. This is a powerful and important movie for all those interested in the history of the Irish republic and the stuggle for freedom that goes on to this very day. The DVD version is esspecially important because it has a documentry of the real Michael Collins himself and a history of the Irish resistance from the Irish Volunteers, the IRB to the IRA. This DVD is a must have.
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Summary: educational, but boring as hell
Review: this movie had great potential, but unfortunately didn't live up to it. the info in the movie was interesting, but was directed so badly that it couldn't be good. it started out so suddenly that you couldnt be drawn into it.what was up with julia roberts? she can't keep up an irish accent to save her life. if you want a documentarish movie youll like this. but if you want an awesome movie about ireland check out some mothers son or the boxer.
Rating:
Summary: Riiiipper!
Review: Yeah paka mate, beautiful film,really interesting, kept my attention the whole film which can't be said for most.My favourite quote "We won't play by their rules we'll invent our own" Ingenious also how they bought real life film footage of events and placed it into the actual reinactment of Irelands "triumph,terror and tragedy".Understand now alot more about Irish history, and English vrs Irish history.
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