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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is excellent entertainment. An unemployed, ex-con, ex-miner is given an opportunity to bare-knuckle fight for money. The film was shot in and around Coalburn in Scotland and uses very authentic accents and local vernacular. Coalburn was chosen for its grim countryside and rusting relics of the mining industry. The miners' strike of '84 is used in the film almost as a character in its own right. It sets a backdrop of sheer hopelessness to all of the characters. Neeson gives an outstanding early performance. The story evolves at a quick enough pace. Humour is used to punctuate the gloom. Billy Connolly is the house clown and delivers well. There is a scene in a bar where Neeson gets talking to a fellow drinker about the achievements of the Scottish race. It is simple, not over-clever and hilarious. The bare knuckle fight is stomach churning. The sound effects are cringingly realistic and it is not for the squeamish. I didnt get the ending. I am sure some deep, meaningful point was being made. I just didnt get it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Set against the backdrop of Thatcher's deindustrialisation policies on a small mining village near Glasgow, The Big Man dramatises the loss of working class pride and illustrates how socio-political forces led many into desperation as the economy was shifted from manufacturing and heavy industry into service industries. Liam Neeson stars as Danny Soular, a former miner with a wife, two children and a criminal record for police assault during the Miners' Strike of 1984/1985. Relegated to the role of househusband, he seeks solace and financial enlightenment in the things that got him thus far in life - his hands. Cajoled into taking part in an illegal bare knuckle fight he loses his wife and children as he embarks on a rigorous training regime with his boyhood friend (played by Billy Connolly) who is now a runner for a notorious Glasgow crime lord with a big coat and a veneer of respectability (Ian Bannen).
The Big Man is notable for its particularly long fight scene in which there are eventually no holds barred. Brutal? Yes. Disturbing? Perhaps, but not unexpectedly so in a film of this ilk. The narrative also flirts frequently to Spain, where a mysterious, lobster-pink Costa criminal appears to spend all day lounging in his pool on a lilo. His role is ultimately revealed as the plot gradually unravels.
The Big Man combines tragedy, comedy and drama and captures a sense of loss in working class masculinity that occurred in Scotland in the 1980's. Several other notable characters are featured here including a young Hugh Grant and even the legendary Glasgow socialite, Tommy Moore.
To this day, Britain does not manufacture goods on the same scale and some people made unemployed at this time never actually found work again. The Big Man therefore captures the angst of the disenfranchised working class man and dramatises this through a gritty tale of 111 minutes of desperation and a subtle search for meaning.
Recommended viewing. There are no extras on the DVD. Note that, like the backdrop, some of the language used is industrial.
The Big Man is notable for its particularly long fight scene in which there are eventually no holds barred. Brutal? Yes. Disturbing? Perhaps, but not unexpectedly so in a film of this ilk. The narrative also flirts frequently to Spain, where a mysterious, lobster-pink Costa criminal appears to spend all day lounging in his pool on a lilo. His role is ultimately revealed as the plot gradually unravels.
The Big Man combines tragedy, comedy and drama and captures a sense of loss in working class masculinity that occurred in Scotland in the 1980's. Several other notable characters are featured here including a young Hugh Grant and even the legendary Glasgow socialite, Tommy Moore.
To this day, Britain does not manufacture goods on the same scale and some people made unemployed at this time never actually found work again. The Big Man therefore captures the angst of the disenfranchised working class man and dramatises this through a gritty tale of 111 minutes of desperation and a subtle search for meaning.
Recommended viewing. There are no extras on the DVD. Note that, like the backdrop, some of the language used is industrial.
Format:DVD
Liam Neeson is on form in this gritty tale of a man forced to become a fighter to try to make some money. In doing so he finds himself in thrall to some very shady and powerful people. Worth a look.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
THE BIG MAN DVD
This film is dated, not the type of film that I enjoy.
Liam Neeson has better movies out than this one.
Liam Neeson has better movies out than this one.
Published 7 months ago by J. Mooney
The Big Man
Have tried to get this on video or DVD for some tiime and was pleased to see it now available. An excellent watch.
Published on 9 Sep 2009 by Mrs. Aileen A. Jones
great potential but overplayed
A line-up of well-known actors but a shabby script. The much vaunted fight scene was the usual filmic unreality. The ending is unresolved.
Published on 12 May 2009 by prophetofjoy
Oldie but Goodie
I was recommended this film by someone at work who said the main fight scene was the best they had ever seen and i must admit it didn't dissapoint. Read more
Published on 29 April 2009 by G. Coates
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