A Common Man (2013) User Reviews

Kingsley's Talents Are Wasted Here

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 6 May 2013]

A terrorist (Ben Kingsley) plants several bombs throughout the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka and threatens to detonate them unless prisoners are released.

Writing a review for this film without revealing the end is a bit hard to do, but I will try. There are many things about this production that can be said...

First of all, this is a remake of an Indian film called "A Wednesday". I have not seen it, but if the reviews are any indication, the original is vastly superior (and probably worth my seeking out).

Second, Kingsley is completely wasted here. He is one of the great actors of our times, and is vastly underrated for some reason. He gets cast in movies that are forgettable, like this one and "The Wackness". Even when he shines (which is almost always), it is hard to appreciate the talent when he is surrounded by rubbish.

Lastly, the people who made this did not seem to grasp English. When Kingsley speaks, it sounds pretty okay. But when others speak, they talk in a nonsense style sometimes, repeat themselves a lot... it just never makes sense. This is the film's biggest weakness -- do not try to make a film in English if you cannot speak the language. I would much rather watch a Sri Lankan film with subtitles if it would sound more natural...

Courage to all of us but Poor Acting by Supporting Actors & Poor Direction

[hasitha3 · 6/10 · 29 April 2013]

This is a good effort. But the Supporting Actors (Not the Main two actors) actually not co-operative with the "Film". And Direction was weak. There is a scene, Questioning a explosive seller in a dark room, that Scene remembering me 1980's Indian films, but worse. If you're comparing this with Hindi(2008) original film, you would say "This film inspire from the 'Hindi one' but this film has poor cinematography". Then the Other-hand whole world suffering from the Terrorism. Suicide bombers are critical among all. Specially, if you have experience that terrorist acts are how cruel, you'll feel to your heart what I mean. We all "Common men" Must fight against Terrorism. I Hope this film would be a courage to all of us.

Poor movie

[rikardo1979 · 4/10 · 25 April 2013]

Poorly done movie even for low budget. Not sure when I've seen such badly done movie last time. The story is so predictable, and easy to find out the ending after 30 mins of movie. Bad acting, really bad. Music is totally out out and not fit into movie at all. Scenario is all wrongly written. Not sure if this movie has an director at all but I would see this as an school project movie and not profi done. Don't have much more to write and I'm so surprise I have watched it to the end. I would say that this movie is even not good enough for TV. Im not sure if it makes it onto the screens but hope no as it would be a waste of money for tickets. Don't waste your time

I love Ben Kingsley

[duvel123 · 2/10 · 29 April 2013]

Any movie with Ben Kingsley surely cant be as bad as reviews here said. Really, I love this guy. But after seeing "a common man", I stand corrected. Its even worse. The script is ridiculous, the dialog so bad its almost hilarious, the music is painfully bad, the acting absolute rubbish. I hate to say it, but even Kingsley is anything but impressive in this movie.

Throughout the movie I kept thinking there has to be a back-story to this. How did this thing ever get made and why oh why did Kingsley ever sign up for it?

I got to write a few more lines before I can submit this. But I have nothing else to say. Don't waste your time on this.

This is a copy of movie "A Wednesday" which is an Hindi movie released in 2008 and 100 time better than this awful combination of production, direction, editing and acting.

[hoathjunaid · 1/10 · 30 July 2013]

The reason im rating this movie awful is that i have seen the original movie by which is in Hindi and was released in 2008. This is simply a English version of the movie "A Wednesday" which is one of the best movie's i have seen. The only reason i picked this movie to watch was because of Ben kingsley and i am very much disappointed and never expected such poor performance from him. I recommend everyone to watch "A Wednesday" with subtitile you maybe also find that on youtube.

This movie is awful in its every aspect either its the direction, production, editing, and above all the acting. When people copy something i would expect that to be a better version, improved one. This is just an awful movie and waste of time, i again recommend to watch the original movie "A Wednesday http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280558/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4 ".

One of the most awful movies I've ever watched....

[priyanjayasuriya · 1/10 · 13 July 2013]

This movie was so terrible that I was so surprised that how could it turn out to be, with an actor like Ben. But then I realized that the whole production team and the cast was just horrible, so there's no surprise that it was an epic failure.

Made me wonder whether they did have a casting session before selecting the cast or at least even read the script twice! Why didn't they go for Sri Lankan actors? Instead, they had to go for people who called themselves actors, only god knows from where they were picked up from.

Major blow to Sri Lanka and as a Sri Lankan, I am quite crossed about making this movie. I hope people will not think bad about Sri Lankan movies, because we produce many good movies which goes and wins foreign movie festival awards. But among them, here this is, smearing mud on our faces.

Absolutely horrible. Cannot give 0. So I'm giving 1 out of 10.

worst movie ever!

[dshoji1 · 1/10 · 16 July 2014]

This movie sucks so bad that my eyes couldn't believe!. I mean, come on!, the whole movie was filled with clichés like the tough guy wearing sunglasses (even in the dark) and fist fights so poorly acted. Sir Kingsley, I hope you are reading this and if so, you owe me one and a half hours of my life...and i want them back!.

BTW, the way they speak through the entire movie reminded me of those English dubbed Chinese movies.

It's very difficult to understand how a man who played such a profound role like Gandhi can perform such a terrible movie like this one.

Overall, worst movie ever...and Mr. Kingsley, i mean it, i want my wasted time back!

Only one person acted in this movie

[margotsaites · 2/10 · 25 May 2013]

This movie could have been good.

I loved Ben Kingsley in it. He was the only person who acted.

At first I thought the actors were actually trying to look stilted and awkward and were purposely trying to deliver their lines in that horrible manner. It felt like they were literally reading their lines from the script....

I soon learned, no, they were just all bad actors... apart from Ben K that is...

Very disappointing.

The story itself was great though.

This could have been a much better movie.

Worst movie I have seen in a long time!

[Doubleredrolex · 29 May 2013]

Acting is terrible. Script is weak and there is no real story going on except that some bald guy wants some people released from prison or he is going to set off bombs in the city. . Production value is very low budget. Didn't even finish watching the whole thing. How did they ever trick Ben Kingsley into making this movie. I'm surprised that they allowed it to be released. Its a career killer. The acting is more like a high school production or after school special from the 80's. I guess this was an attempt by Sri Lanka film industry to see what they can put on the big screen. Hopefully they give up after this one. I gave it a very generous 3/10.

See it just for Kingsley playing the REAL Mandarin!

[incognitoami · 6/10 · 6 August 2013]

Alright so this film gets a LOT of flak for being bad. Bad film making. Poorly acted. Poor ADR dubbing/editing. A weak script. Low budget. So be it. I'll give it that. Ben Kingsley is an incredibly underrated actor and his performance alone here makes this film worth watching, particularly because of the wasted potential of his villainous character in Iron Man 3 as The Mandarin. I won't spoil what went wrong in that film for those who haven't seen it, suffice to say that if director Shane Black had taken his character seriously, Kingsley's performance in A Common Man would have delivered a diabolically sinister Mandarin the fans were all expecting to see.

Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley delivers an uncompromising performance as "The Man" a terrorist who plants five bombs around the city of Columbo, Sri Lanka demanding the release of political prisoners from the D.I.G. (Mister DIG) played by Ben Cross, another underrated British performer, in a suspenseful game of cat and mouse. Unfortunately the usually dependable Ben Cross' performance is hampered by bad dubbing and very melodramatic acting but Kinglsey shines in a role reminiscent of his character of hit-man Don Logan in Sexy Beast.

As others have pointed out, there are indeed some audio sync issues as it appears the whole film was ADR'd and lip sync is annoyingly off a little at times (about a frame or two). So it's not the best technically produced film and the acting by the supporting Hindi cast is almost laughably bad at times, but if you want to see Kingsley playing the real Mandarin I suggest you check it out for his performance alone for a glimpse of what could and should have been in Iron Man 3.

Watch with understanding eyes

[cjevansaicp · 3/10 · 21 June 2013]

"A terrorist plants several bombs throughout the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka and threatens to detonate them unless prisoners are released."

That's the brief synopsis of this movie. That, and the poster art for this movie would lead you to believe it is an action-packed thriller. It isn't. It is a c-grade movie from Sri Lanka made for the direct-to-DVD, American market. Sri Lanka isn't known for its film industry, at least in the United States. Considering that it isn't a terrible movie. It just isn't the quality American film goers expect when plunking down $4.99 to view it from the local cable company.

I'm not going to discuss the plot except to say --- think Die Hard without the special effects, decent acting, or passable dialog. I selected this because Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross had the leads, surrounded by a cast of Sri Lankan filmmakers and actors. The Sri Lankan film industry is young and the money isn't there to employ the film techniques the U.S. film industry has invented and perfected. So A Common Man gets some forgiveness here. It's a decent attempt to cater to the U.S. market. But most of the U.S. Audience will be disappointed by its overly amateurish feel.

In this first place, as a struggling (read: hopeful) screenwriter, I was not surprised by the formalistic plot. All principal characters, and a few irrelevant ones --- included, no doubt, to create drama and/or a layer of unpredictability --- are introduced during the first thirty minutes. Unfortunately, the middle --- the place where characters are developed, the plot rises to its dramatic peak, and the way out presented --- is largely absent. In very real terms the movie goes from Act I to Act III with a cup of coffee in between.

The dialog was rudimentary. Well, really not very good. One scene that stands out is a discussion between the principal character, played by Academy Award Winner, Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and the tele-journalist, Dilky, played by Numaya Siriwardena, where Dikly is objecting to being used to facilitate the "crime" being perpetrated by Kingsley's character. A young journalist is being given the biggest story of her career and she is prattling on about the morality of it all. To top it off the dubbed dialog suffered from some very serious synchronization issues.

The special effects were ... well ... not special. The camera work was a cross between a hand held wielded by someone with a neurological disorder and a stationary unit that did not permit Ben Cross from moving around apparently, to prevent him from walking out of the shot. The soundtrack was mediocre and frequently played over the actor's lines.

The Sri Lankan actors were somewhat less-skilled than an introductory college theater class. Unfortunately, both Bens (Cross and Kingsley) sowed up, walked through their lines and left. Other reviewers on other sites have trashed these two fine actors for their somnambulistic performances. In reality, that's all that can be expected when two extraordinary actors are placed in the hands or a director who is very much less extraordinary and/or in a film with a paltry budget.

Given all of this I still recommend this film. It is instructive not for the incompetence of the production crew --- for they are hardly that --- but because much can be learned from this early foray into the U.S. market by a foreign film industry in it's, by our standards, infancy.

Recommendation: Watch but, with understanding eyes.

despite B movie prod. value, its a great effort, engaging and.....

[neilzao · 8/10 · 26 April 2013]

Despite B movie prod. value, its a great effort, engaging and.....Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross. You'd have to dig hard into the 45+/- years of Ben Kingsley's career to find something not worth revisiting.

its refreshing to see suspense, well paced action/editing and performances in a movie that may unfortunately escape mainstream media's radar. too many times, big budget films prey upon the audience's desires for violence, T&A and the obvious, but this one didn't.

The movie has some flaws, we've seen similar themes (its a remake too) in other big releases, and again, the prod. value is flawed, particularly dubbing. My vote of 8 stars is generous, but attention should be drawn to A Common Man.

Maybe you predict the ending, maybe not.

I consider this a nice change of pace. In fact, after viewing the film, I visited IMDb, saw one review (more or less panning A Common Man), so i chose to offer my first review. I hope my opinion is helpful to you.

A man purposefully places bombs in Colombo Sri Lanka

[ecopolst · 7/10 · 29 October 2014]

This movie actually is better than it looks. On the downside it has all the hallmarks of a B-movie. The editing is poor, the script is dull and at times laughable, filming is amateurish and the characters are superficial. Even a decent actor like Ben Kingsley cant make his role interesting.

However the movie has a very clear story line that is followed in a consistent logical fashion. A man (Ben Kingsley) places bombs around Colombo Sri Lanka and makes demands not to detonate those. The movie has a surprising end posing a deep political and practical question.

A consistent story line with few pointless disturbances, excellent ending and some deep questions about society included is more than you get in most movies these days.

All in all to me the positive outweighs the negative. If you can live with movie-technical flaws, watch this one!

Worst Suspense Thriller of the Decade!

[ghousepower · 1/10 · 4 May 2013]

Well, after watching this movie for 10 minutes you know it's absolutely crap. Nothing fits in. In short it's one of the worst films ever made. The city lacks everything to be offered in a crime watch movie. I would say it's one of the worst locations ever chosen to make a movie. Ben Kingsly's character does not exactly fit in as 'A Common Man' over there. Set design is absolutely preposterous. Acting is horrible. Even academy award winner Sir Ben Kingsly delivers a poor and humiliating performance which probably is the rock bottom of his acting career. Even more so in the hand of Ben Cross who despite playing Barnabas Collins in the Dark Shadows series gives a merely juvenile performance. It keeps you wandering whether he is actually acting or just speaking in front of an Irish pub. In short the movie is vaguely pathetic. If this movie is going to win any awards it's going to be at the Golden Raspberry's. In short if you want to go see it; It's a no go. You could rather stay at home and peel potatoes for the time you waste on this.

what a lousy remake of the great Hindi movie, 'A Wednesday (2008)

[rightwingisevil · 26 April 2013]

"A.Wednesday(2008), the Hindi Crime and revenge movie was seriously produced with a great original screenplay, good directing supported with first rate actors, the editing was also good, and of course, the sound track dutifully accommodated to the situations changed and twisted with great collaboration. the whole storyline really grabbed you and never let you go to the end. that old guy would never cast any doubtful impression to anyone, because he really looked and behaved like a common citizen in any big city that walked around you but you never paid any attention to him. yet in this pathetic film, they signed up Mr. Ben Kingsley to play that devil's advocate and avenging angel (or should i say, the avenging devil?). of course, Mr. Kingsley is a great actor who did so many great jobs in so many good films, but hiring this iconic actor to play that role was absolutely inappropriate! he got a satanic face with such a vicious features and such a prominent hooked nose, he is the extreme opposite person who we would call him common. anybody sees him would inevitably remember him. his unique satanic face has turned into even worse as he grows older. i don't know why Sri Lanka movie people would have adapted a 2008 Hindi film and reproduced it. by hiring two well known international actors, Ben Kingsley and Ben cross, two English actors would never make it better if the screenplay and other supporting actors were so weak and so bad. unlike "the next three days" adapted and remade from the original french film, 'anything for her', the remake never ruined the original copy but also turned it into another absolutely watchable thriller. but this 'a common man', on the contrary, completely ruin the 2008 original 'a Wednesday'. why they made this movie? did they think nobody would know what they poorly copied and ruined a great film after six years gap? this film should never have gotten a nod from their investors, as always, stupidity never failed to amaze me. my rating of this movie is not 0, but 0 minus 10. an absolute piece of crap.

Quite the worst film I have ever seen

[tonyfor · 1/10 · 10 February 2014]

How on earth did Sir Ben Kingsley get involved with making this film? It is absolutely, mind-bogglingly, horribly dreadful in every way possible - in terms of script, acting, visuals, music etc etc. I bought it (thankfully very cheaply) because Ben Kingsley was involved. He owes me 10 RMB. I should be fair and admit that I didn't actually watch until the end, but can't imagine that it improved - although it could not have got any worse. Reading the other reviews here, it seems that it didn't improve. I guess Ben Kingsley may have been doing a favour to someone in the Sri Lankan film industry, but this clearly proves that a star name alone can't make a good film. How on earth the IMDb score is 4.7 (it may be less now), I can't possibly imagine.

Must've been a favour for a family member

[maryannpower · 1/10 · 10 April 2014]

That is the only reasonable explanation I can think of for why Ben Kingsley was even a part of this mess to begin with.

Top to bottom, this is the worst film I've ever seen. It must have been the first attempt by a well connected film school grad.

The dumbest plot, the most amateur acting, the biggest overall WTF in modern movie history.

The only decent part of this film was the trailer. It was obviously edited by a professional brought in after the film wrapped to try and make this mess look watchable. I'd not heard about this movie, and saw it in Netflix. I based my decision to watch it on the trailer. Any audience this film gets is based on that 2.5 minutes of trickery.

Why Ben Kingsley? Why?

Thoroughly Disappointing

[glen_il · 1/10 · 19 May 2013]

Seeing Ben Kingsly and Ben Cross on the cast, made me excited that they came to Sri Lanka to make a movie. I thought given the resources and talent available in the local film industry I expected a very convincing movie, but as most of us were, i was Thoroughly Disappointed.

Firstly let me say that the dialog was utter crap. It was so bad, it had me laughing my sides out. The script seemed to meander purposelessly, and the police at the head quarters lacked the urgency you would usually find when a National Security department gets a bomb threat. To make things worse, the acting was just artificial and almost ammature. I doubt Mr Weeraman could ever out-do his terrible performance.

This is possibly the lowest Mr Kingsly would ever reach in his career, I look forward to his performance in Iron Man 3.

Ben Kingsley is more than A Common Man

[rgblakey · 5/10 · 16 May 2013]

Ben Kingsley is one of those actors that is always amazing but takes on such a wide variety of strange roles that sometimes he gets thrown into something that he just can't save. At the same time he has delivered so many brilliant performances that those few missteps can be ignored. Fresh of the triumph of his awesome performance in Iron Man 3 comes his latest film A Common Man alongside Ben Cross. Will this be another great performance to add to his impressive resume or be lost in struggling film?

A Common Man follows a terrorist who plants several bombs around the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka and threatens to detonate them unless prisoners are released. This is one of those movies that initially looks fairly low budget and could have easily fallen into obscurity if not for the star power of Ben Kingsley. The film opens leaving little mystery to what is happening and what Kingsley's character is up to or so you think. Thanks to some clever writing and another great performance by Kingsley this film takes an interesting and unexpected turn to create a film that is much better than it would have been. On the flip side most of those around the rest of the film deliver OK performances with Ben Cross seemingly just walking through his performance and offering nothing all that much the character or the film. This film plays as more of a thriller as opposed to an action film and leads you down a path that has been touched on numerous times, but quickly makes a U-turn into a completely different direction.

This is an intriguing film that manages to create a story that is sure to keep you invested until the very end. As mentioned before while most of the performances do nothing to really suck you in, its Kingsley's performance that carries this movie. This isn't a perfect movie by any means, but does offer some interesting twists and turns that make this film worth checking out.

Horrible - a "Worst 10 Movies of All Time" contender....

[wick27 · 1/10 · 21 May 2013]

Without question, a new addition to IMDb's "Worst 10 of All Time." Not sure it would be possible to pen a more absurd script..........even far more challenging to collect a more untalented team of supporting actors....no, wait, the script is that horrible.......nothing could be worse.

I can only imagine that Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross did the Sri Lanka Movie Industry a favor by agreeing to offer their talents. Unfortunately, if this is the best they can produce, Sri Lanka will NEVER again be able to lure any B-Actor (or C, D, E or F-Level actor for that matter) from Hollywood.

I honestly feel that any high school's Performing Arts Department could have created a more interesting story, delivered the dialog better and given some semblance of acting and directing ability. "DON'T quit your day job" is the only advice I could give the people who produced "A Common Man."

Amateur Editing and lack-luster acting, but a well written story.

[kuuk3 · 3/10 · 12 August 2015]

Firstly, there are several sound problems left over from poor editing. A loud crackle at 7 minutes, echoed dialogue at 30 mins etc. These are caused by gaps and sync issues in the time-line of the editing software. They are short and don't interfere with the film, but it shows a lack of faith in the producers, editor and director that they cant even watch their own product before sending it to market. There are also moments when some dialogue is quiet so you turn the volume up, then it gets loud and you turn it down. Keep the remote nearby as you will be juggling the volume a lot. There is some English dubbing throughout but thats to be expected for a film not set in an English speaking country.

The director is very ambitious. He knows how to position a camera to get artistic. Overhead shots of fights in the alley, crane shots and quiet long takes showing the bomber. It appears he has just come out of film school and this is his first passion project. How he got Ben Kinglsey onboard is the biggest question to ask. Even the cameras are a decent grade HD, better than some big budget blockbusters. I will say the colour is a little drowned out though. He also needs to learn to avoid pointing the camera at the sunlight from windows when doing interior shots.

The acting is poor, and the script is cliché. The dialogue is tough to watch. Thankfully most of the film is focused on the silent bad guy, who holds your attention enough to keep you watching. Its short and the story is easy to follow.

This is not however a bad film. It has lots of potential and is a learning experience for the crew especially. You can see them enhancing their CV credits while they pretend to be background police officers. If they watch back this film and learn from all their mistakes, they will be rewarded.

As for us viewers, watching what is essentially a student film, its not something I can recommend mainly because of the constantly changing volume issue. I picked it up on bluray at the dollar store, so its not breaking the bank at least.

A Great Effort

[laddunishan · 9/10 · 29 April 2013]

I've watched both "A Wednesday" and "A common Man". And I would say, Hindi movie is better than this one because of the natural way of acting by the Indian actors. Oh yes, this can't be happen in the real world. That's true. But the content of this movie is also TRUE. Terrorism , always destroy thousands of innocent lives all over the world. But no one can against 'em. By the way, Sir Ben Kingsley, one of my top rated actors making a magnificent acting here, which was ruined by other actors all over the movie. I can't see any emotional feature from any other character. Finally, I would like to thanks & wish Chandran Rutnam for his great effort.

DON'T ASK HOW, ASK WHY

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 9 April 2019]

Ben Kinsley has placed bombs at various locations in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He demands that four terrorists be released or else he will explode them. The DIG (Ben Cross) is given authority to what ever he has to do to handle the situation. The first 10 minutes consists of planting the bombs, followed by the cat and mouse game between Kinsley and Cross.

The movie loosely held my interest in spite of the low action level and twist I had figured out after the first 10 minutes. The main problem is that the idea that Kinsley's actions represent "the common man." Certainly his views are reflective of a large portion of the population, but for me, I prefer the statement, "It is not about who they are, but it is about who we are." This film makes me cringe to think about who we are.

The message of this film should have appeal to those typically associated with right wing views. Might make for a rental for those who want to watch an "action/thriller" that is more of a drama.

Parental Guide: 1 f-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Very very bad

[wnourallah · 1/10 · 6 May 2013]

I cannot believe that 2 great actors like Ben Kingsley (Ghandi) and Ben Cross agreed to do such an awful movie and then allow it to be publicly released. I can only assume that they are struggling financially and boredom has set in their lives. One on the worst acting and amateurish story line I have ever seen. Please please avoid at all costs. The producers and directors are so unprofessional that they should never be allowed to make films in the future as they are insulting the intelligent minds of this world. Also must've been on a very very low budget. The rest of the cast, well do I need to say what I really think of them?

Not so common man

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 19 January 2014]

The German title of the movie is a bit of a giveaway, so I hope you did not have a chance to look at that or watch it here. But even if it wasn't you will figure out what is going on before most characters in here know what is happening. The rest is morally ambiguous and might not be your taste or might be right up your ally.

Whatever the case, Sir Ben Kingsley gives a more than decent performance, though I'm not sure he as a person would agree to what the movie and his character are standing for. But that's just it, it is a movie and therefor should not be seen as anything more than that. Although it might be fair to say that the director might have more goals and messages to send, it's just what the viewer can assume. Maybe he was just trying to make us think about the topic at hand. And that he achieved for sure