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Deleted line(s) 48,52 (click to see context) :
* HeyItsThatGuy: Julia Davis and Kevin Eldon, who have appeared in several other Chris Morris projects
** Malcolm Storge MP looks suspiciously like [[TheThickOfIt Julius Nicholson MP]]
** Alex is the loan shark from ''BlackBooks''
** {{Sherlock}} negotiates for the police in his spare time?
*** Incompetently, to boot.
** Malcolm Storge MP looks suspiciously like [[TheThickOfIt Julius Nicholson MP]]
** Alex is the loan shark from ''BlackBooks''
** {{Sherlock}} negotiates for the police in his spare time?
*** Incompetently, to boot.
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Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
* FauxYay: "We're going to get down to some gay business". They're not.
to:
* FauxYay: "We're going to get down to some gay business". They're [[spoiler:They're not.]]
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* BaaBomb: [[spoiler: "One sheep was harmed in the making of this film"]]
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* BaaBomb: [[spoiler: "One sheep was harmed blown up in the making of this film"]]
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* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The whole end of the film, with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings Islamic extremists bombing a marathon]], has become a lot harder to laugh at recently.
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Changed line(s) 114 (click to see context) from:
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of Film/TheThreeStooges frosting.
to:
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' ''Film/TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of Film/TheThreeStooges frosting.
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* BlandNameProduct: The jihadists coordinate online through a children's browser game called [[ClubPenguin Puffin Party]].
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Deleted line(s) 46 (click to see context) :
* HarsherInHindsight: Our "heroes" are a group of radicalized young men, none of them particularly bright, who try to make a statement by bombing a marathon. Three years later...
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* HarsherInHindsight: Our "heroes" are a group of radicalized young men, none of them particularly bright, who try to make a statement by bombing a marathon. Three years later...
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Natter, and you\'re missing the point about this being outlined as a Double Entendre.
Deleted line(s) 35 (click to see context) :
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
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* IHaveThisFriend: In this case Omar's friend is called [[TheLionKing Simba]].
to:
* IHaveThisFriend: In this case Omar's friend is called [[TheLionKing [[Disney/TheLionKing Simba]].
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* ManChild: Waj brings a toy gun to the shooting of his Jihad video, reads children's books, and his conception of the afterlife is that of a theme park ride. To a smaller degree, the rest of the protagonists are all crushingly naive. Conversely, Omar's son is shown to be pretty sharp when Omar tries to justify suicide bombing by way of ''TheLionKing''.
** In his defense, they're children's books meant to teach Urdu... which he nonetheless can't finish.
** In his defense, they're children's books meant to teach Urdu... which he nonetheless can't finish.
to:
* ManChild: Waj brings a toy gun to the shooting of his Jihad video, reads children's books, and his conception of the afterlife is that of a theme park ride. To a smaller degree, the rest of the protagonists are all crushingly naive. Conversely, Omar's son is shown to be pretty sharp when Omar tries to justify suicide bombing by way of ''TheLionKing''.
**''Disney/TheLionKing''. In his defense, they're children's books meant to teach Urdu... which he nonetheless can't finish.
**
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played with bizarrely - Omar is heading a terrorist plot to kill who-knows-how-many innocent people, but he still tries to take the moral high ground over his brother for "locking women in a cupboard."
to:
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played with bizarrely - Omar is heading a terrorist plot to kill who-knows-how-many innocent people, but he still tries to take the moral high ground over his brother for "locking women in a cupboard."" Further, he is ultimately unwilling to trick Waj into going through with the attack once his heart starts having second thoughts (which is three more than his brain).
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** In his defense, they're children's books meant to teach Urdu... which he nonetheless can't finish.
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* RealityIsUnrealistic: A recurring criticism of the film is that the portrayal of Omar's family as loving and stable is an unconvincing, heavy-handed attempt to humanize a would-be suicide bomber. Morris has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uglk7QyxKs pointed out]] that this aspect of his character actually has a basis in a number of real life terrorists.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
Deleted line(s) 97,99 (click to see context) :
* RealityIsUnrealistic: A recurring criticism of the film is that the portrayal of Omar's family as loving and stable is an unconvincing, heavy-handed attempt to humanize a would-be suicide bomber. Morris has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uglk7QyxKs pointed out]] that this aspect of his character actually has a basis in a number of real life terrorists.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
Deleted line(s) 111 (click to see context) :
* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
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** When Barry's car breaks down, he blames "Jewish spark plugs", on the basis that "Jews invented spark plugs to control world transport!"
** In order to convince Feisal to bomb the mosque, Barry (notice a theme, here?) asks if his father has ever eaten a Jaffa orange. When Feisal answers in the affirmative, Barry says "right, he's buying nukes for {{Israel}}, he's a Jew."
** In order to convince Feisal to bomb the mosque, Barry (notice a theme, here?) asks if his father has ever eaten a Jaffa orange. When Feisal answers in the affirmative, Barry says "right, he's buying nukes for {{Israel}}, he's a Jew."
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Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* Ad-Lib: Most noticeably is Waj's "Fuck Mini Babybels" line that was added on the spot by Kayvan Novak.
to:
* Ad-Lib: AdLib: Most noticeably is Waj's "Fuck Mini Babybels" line that was added on the spot by Kayvan Novak.
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* ArmouredClosetGay: Repressed homosexuality is a rather plausible explanation for Barry's character, given his bizarre "initiation ritual" with Hasan (which involves shoving a baked bean up his penis) and forcing Waj to urinate into his own mouth. Indeed, it is probable that he turned to fundamentalist Islam because it let him fight against the society that he secretly wishes he was part of.
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Deleted line(s) 105 (click to see context) :
* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
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* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
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* TruthInTelevision: In an interview with NPR Chris Morris stated the film was based on research he'd done after 9/11 that led him to believe many would-be terrorists are completely incompetent. He claimed that the 'bomb the mosque' scene is taken verbatim from an MI5 surveillance transcript.
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Changed line(s) 109 (click to see context) from:
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges frosting.
to:
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges Film/TheThreeStooges frosting.
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* HarmlessVillain: Poor old Faisal never seems all that interested in actual terrorism, even if he ''were'' interested he would be too incompetent to do any harm, and he chickens out at the thought of blowing himself up.
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* Ad-Lib: Most noticeably is Waj's "Fuck Mini Babybels" line that was added on the stop by Kayvan Novak.
to:
* Ad-Lib: Most noticeably is Waj's "Fuck Mini Babybels" line that was added on the stop spot by Kayvan Novak.
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added Ad-Lib
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* Ad-Lib: Most noticeably is Waj's "Fuck Mini Babybels" line that was added on the stop by Kayvan Novak.
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* ChekhovsSkill: Rather, Chekhov's Obnoxious Habit that Barry displays early on his tendency to eat inedible objects, either when he can't get his way or as part of his idiotic self-flagellation obsession (otherwise involving beans or urine). [[spoiler: His final act is attempting to swallow a SIM card to stop Omar from saving Waj's life, only to choke on it, causing a stranger to do the Heimlich maneuver, which sets off his bomb...]]
to:
* ChekhovsSkill: Rather, Chekhov's Obnoxious Habit that Habit. Barry displays early on his tendency to eat inedible objects, either when he can't get his way or as part of his idiotic self-flagellation obsession (otherwise involving beans or urine). [[spoiler: His final act is attempting to swallow a SIM card to stop Omar from saving Waj's life, only to choke on it, causing a stranger to do the Heimlich maneuver, which sets off his bomb...intervene and ultimately kills Barry.]]
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* GratuitousEnglish: Omar's Pakistani uncle speaks in Urdu but randomly throws in bits of English when he's ranting to Omar and Waj.
to:
* GratuitousEnglish: Omar's Pakistani uncle speaks in Urdu but randomly throws in bits of English when he's ranting to Omar and Waj.Waj, such as when they shoot their Kalashnikovs in the air, and his long rant mentions "James fuck Bond!"
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* BilingualBonus: Omar frequently swears in Urdu.
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This is neither an example of quotemining, nor a subversion of it.
Deleted line(s) 87 (click to see context) :
** A further subversion in the poster fine print: "If you're reading this, find out what's wrong with you."
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** The jihadists are all determined to kill unbelievers, but Barry starts insisting that they target a mosque and blame it on unbelievers, hoping this will radicalize moderate Muslims. Later, Waj holds a restaurant full of Muslims hostage. One of them even points out that Waj's bomb won't kill ''any'' unbelievers.
to:
** The jihadists are all determined to kill unbelievers, but Barry starts insisting that they [[FalseFlagOperation target a mosque and blame it on unbelievers, unbelievers]], hoping this will radicalize moderate Muslims. Later, Waj holds a restaurant full of Muslims hostage. One of them even points out that Waj's bomb won't kill ''any'' unbelievers.
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Changed line(s) 97 (click to see context) from:
* TedBaxter: Barry
to:
* TedBaxter: SmallNameBigEgo: Barry
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Changing Namespace
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* ActualPacifist: As part of the deconstruction of AcceptableReligiousTargets, Omar's fundamentalist Muslim brother Ahmed tries to talk him out of doing violence, which he rightly suspects he's planning. Naturally, the authorities see him as the terrorist mastermind behind it and are threatening him with torture at the end. Ahmed seems to be a more fundamentalist Muslim than Omar,ironically, refusing to enter the same room with Omar's wife and in Islamic garb everywhere he goes, whereas Omar wears Western-style clothes.
to:
* ActualPacifist: As part of the deconstruction of AcceptableReligiousTargets, Omar's fundamentalist Muslim brother Ahmed tries to talk him out of doing violence, which he rightly suspects he's planning. Naturally, the authorities see him as the terrorist mastermind behind it and are threatening him with torture at the end. Ahmed seems to be a more fundamentalist Muslim than Omar,ironically, refusing to enter the same room with Omar's wife and in Islamic garb everywhere he goes, whereas Omar wears Western-style clothes.
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* {{Angrish}}:
to:
* {{Angrish}}: {{Angrish}}:
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* DoubleEntendre:
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophone address.
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophone address.
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
to:
* DoubleEntendre:
DoubleEntendre:
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophoneaddress.
address.
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophone
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
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* HypocriticalHumour:
to:
* HypocriticalHumour: HypocriticalHumour:
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
** The jihadists all think of themselves as champions of Islam, when none of them seem to be particularly religious. Hassan admits that he rarely goes to mosque, and Barry outright states that it's a waste of time, since he sees everyone in there as idiots and sellouts. Waj doesn't seem to understand the concept of praying to Mecca. Omar's family is much less conservative than his deeply religious brother, and they laugh off his religious arguments. Even Faisal, the most devout of the group, is only obeying laws that his father tells him to obey (and his father is crazy).
to:
** The jihadists all think of themselves as champions of Islam, when none of them seem to be particularly religious. Hassan admits that he rarely goes to mosque, and Barry outright states that it's a waste of time, since he sees everyone in there as idiots and sellouts. Waj doesn't seem to understand the concept of praying to Mecca. Omar's family is much less conservative than his deeply religious brother, and they laugh off his religious arguments. Even Faisal, the most devout of the group, is only obeying laws that his father tells him to obey (and his father is crazy).
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* InsaneTrollLogic:
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out the revolution...
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out the revolution...
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
to:
* InsaneTrollLogic:
InsaneTrollLogic:
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out therevolution...
revolution...
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out the
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
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* OopNorth: Set and filmed mostly in Sheffield. Omar works as a security guard at Meadowhall. The hospital scene is the main entrance of the Northern General Hospital.
to:
* OopNorth: Set and filmed mostly in Sheffield. Omar works as a security guard at Meadowhall. The hospital scene is the main entrance of the Northern General Hospital.
Changed line(s) 88 (click to see context) from:
* ShoutOut:
to:
* ShoutOut: ShoutOut:
Changed line(s) 92 (click to see context) from:
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
to:
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
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* XMeetsY: It's ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges frosting.
to:
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[TwentyFour ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges frosting.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FourLionsOneCrow_6394.jpg
[[caption-width:300:One Crow]]
[[caption-width:300:One Crow]]
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[[caption-width:300:One
[[caption-width-right:300:One Crow]]
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FourLionsOneCrow_6394.jpg
[[caption-width:300:One Crow]]
-->''"Rubber dinghy rapids, bro!"''
The debut feature film directed by ChrisMorris, and written by Morris in collaboration with Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain of ''PeepShow'' fame. It's a comedy of the type where a bunch of ordinary blokes, none of them the very sharpest of minds, take on a task bigger than themselves. Similar to ''TheFullMonty'', in a funny way. Except that they want to be [[BlackComedy Islamist suicide bombers]].
----
!!'''This film provides examples of: '''
* ActualPacifist: As part of the deconstruction of AcceptableReligiousTargets, Omar's fundamentalist Muslim brother Ahmed tries to talk him out of doing violence, which he rightly suspects he's planning. Naturally, the authorities see him as the terrorist mastermind behind it and are threatening him with torture at the end. Ahmed seems to be a more fundamentalist Muslim than Omar,ironically, refusing to enter the same room with Omar's wife and in Islamic garb everywhere he goes, whereas Omar wears Western-style clothes.
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Well, all for some tampons and cotton buds]]
* {{Angrish}}:
** "FUCK MINI BABYBEL!"
** We also get an impressive stint of angry Urdu: "these useless fuck-my-auntie-from-a-standing-position pyjama-wearing cockerel dicks"
* AxCrazy: Barry is clearly not very stable, and one gets the impression that he's turned to radical Islam largely because it gives him an excuse to be violent.
* BaaBomb: [[spoiler: "One sheep was harmed in the making of this film"]]
* BlackComedy: [[RefugeInAudacity The blackest.]]
* BlatantLies: "That bag's full of... really fragile... boots."
* BloodyHilarious: [[spoiler: Feisal and the sheep end up in a binbag.]]
* BrickJoke: At the training camp, Waj and Omar try to use a rocket launcher to destroy a [=UAV=], only for it to fire backwards. [[spoiler: During the very end of the movie, we find out they took out OsamaBinLaden-this was a year before he actually was killed.]]
* BritishAccents: A nice smattering of various northern accents and a few London ones.
* ChekhovsSkill: Rather, Chekhov's Obnoxious Habit that Barry displays early on his tendency to eat inedible objects, either when he can't get his way or as part of his idiotic self-flagellation obsession (otherwise involving beans or urine). [[spoiler: His final act is attempting to swallow a SIM card to stop Omar from saving Waj's life, only to choke on it, causing a stranger to do the Heimlich maneuver, which sets off his bomb...]]
* CloudCuckooLander: Alice.
--> "I used to be in a band... until all the birds fell off the roof."
* ClusterFBomb: There's a lot of swearing in general, but Omar's [[BilingualBonus Urdu]] rants are a particular highlight.
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Waj's Chicken Cottage rant, Barry asking Feisal to "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZVfyQyu9RY show me the voice]]"... the wannabe Jihadists seem unable to agree on what the point actually is. Even Omar, the guy with the most gumption out of the lot of them, fails to come up with a point whilst telling his son about his plans.
* CowerPower: Malcolm Storge MP hiding under the table when a would-be suicide bomber threatens an attack.
* CrapsackWorld: Essentially every character is either an idiot, crazy or both.
* DoubleEntendre:
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophone address.
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
** When they're at the van suiting up before [[spoiler: the marathon, a cop comes up and says "you're gonna die in those suits" to which Omar replies "Probably. It's all for a good cause"]]
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Very successfully averted. [[spoiler: Not one of the terrorists meet their quixotic goals and each is portrayed as exceedingly silly for the violent acts they eventually do commit.]]
* DownerEnding
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Omar was always intending to kill himself, obviously, but he ''had'' been about to change his mind and turn himself in... then the police indirectly kill Waj, and he changes his mind back out of grief.]]
* DumbMuscle: Waj. Noticeably bigger than his cohorts, manhandles on Omar's command, one functioning brain cell.
* EpicFail: But their fail is our win.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played with bizarrely - Omar is heading a terrorist plot to kill who-knows-how-many innocent people, but he still tries to take the moral high ground over his brother for "locking women in a cupboard."
* FauxYay: "We're going to get down to some gay business". They're not.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Barry eating his SIM card, talking about blowing up a pharmacy.
* GratuitousEnglish: Omar's Pakistani uncle speaks in Urdu but randomly throws in bits of English when he's ranting to Omar and Waj.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Julia Davis and Kevin Eldon, who have appeared in several other Chris Morris projects
** Malcolm Storge MP looks suspiciously like [[TheThickOfIt Julius Nicholson MP]]
** Alex is the loan shark from ''BlackBooks''
** {{Sherlock}} negotiates for the police in his spare time?
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Barry's justification for Jihad.
-->"Islam is cracking up! We got women talking back! We got people playing stringed instruments! It's the end of days."
* HypocriticalHumour:
** Omar rails against western culture, saying that it's obsessed with technology, escapism and other nonsense. However, the jihadists all make repeated references to how much they enjoy things like Xbox video games, English theme parks, Disney films, and even Rambo.
** The jihadists are all determined to kill unbelievers, but Barry starts insisting that they target a mosque and blame it on unbelievers, hoping this will radicalize moderate Muslims. Later, Waj holds a restaurant full of Muslims hostage. One of them even points out that Waj's bomb won't kill ''any'' unbelievers.
** The jihadists all think of themselves as champions of Islam, when none of them seem to be particularly religious. Hassan admits that he rarely goes to mosque, and Barry outright states that it's a waste of time, since he sees everyone in there as idiots and sellouts. Waj doesn't seem to understand the concept of praying to Mecca. Omar's family is much less conservative than his deeply religious brother, and they laugh off his religious arguments. Even Faisal, the most devout of the group, is only obeying laws that his father tells him to obey (and his father is crazy).
* IHaveThisFriend: In this case Omar's friend is called [[TheLionKing Simba]].
* InitiationCeremony: Barry makes Hassan insert a bean into his penis and Waj piss into his own mouth.
* InsaneTrollLogic:
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out the revolution...
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
** Barry asserts, "You cannot win an argument just by being right." Even Waj points out the lack of logic in that one.
** When a police sniper tells his partner that the person in a Wookie costume he shot wasn't the target, the second sniper responds, "It must have been the target, because I shot it" (with the same logic repeated by Martin Storge MP when defending the police and the government's failure to prevent the attack at the end of the film; "as I understand it, the police shot the right man, but the wrong man exploded")
* KickTheDog: "YOU BROKE THE CHICKEN'S BEAK!"
* [[CaliforniaDoubling London Doubling]]: Some of the London scenes are Sheffield city centre. [[spoiler: Barry blowing up]] looks like the corner of Hawley Street and Campo Lane. Also, while the exterior of Meadowhall is shown, its interior is mostly played by another Sheffield shopping centre, Crystal Peaks.
* LosingYourHead: Feisal, literally and metaphorically; Hassan fails to clean up the LudicrousGibs properly and Feisal's head is found by the police.
-->"I told you... it was a knee!"
-->"It was a head! It was obviously a head!"
-->"It had a hinge!"
* ManChild: Waj brings a toy gun to the shooting of his Jihad video, reads children's books, and his conception of the afterlife is that of a theme park ride. To a smaller degree, the rest of the protagonists are all crushingly naive. Conversely, Omar's son is shown to be pretty sharp when Omar tries to justify suicide bombing by way of ''TheLionKing''.
* MartyrdomCulture: Deconstructed, with idiocy.
--> "He'll be in heaven before his head hits the ceiling!"
* MistakenForGay: How they get rid of Alice, who apparently doesn't like gay people.
* MistakenForTerrorist: Played with several times.
* MoodDissonance: Every other scene
* MoodWhiplash: Many times - it's by ChrisMorris, fer chrissakes.
* TheNeidermeyer: Barry.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The poor unwitting first-aider who comes to Barry's aid, and the police who [[spoiler: burst in just in time to distract Waj from Omar's order to give himself up peacefully.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: An attempt to take out a US [=UAV=] ends up [[spoiler:killing Osama Bin Laden]].
* NitroExpress: The five wannabe mujahideen have to transport home-made explosives. They try to drive carefully, but hit a tree. They then have to do a very silly run the rest of the way.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: None except the BaaBomb.
* NoExceptYes: "It's not a cupboard! It's... it's a small room."
* NonIndicativeName: The film is called ''Four Lions'', but there are five main jihadists in the film. [[spoiler:One doesn't make it to the Title Drop, however]].
* NoodleImplements: ''*pulls out a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetabix weetabix]]*:'' "We know a lot more than you think!"
* OhCrap: [[http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Four-Lions-04345.jpg Two of the three lions present]] who [[spoiler: witness Feisal's death]]. The other is too stupid to immediately comprehend what's happened.
* OopNorth: Set and filmed mostly in Sheffield. Omar works as a security guard at Meadowhall. The hospital scene is the main entrance of the Northern General Hospital.
* OnlySaneMan: Omar. And he's not especially bright.
* PlayedForLaughs: Stupid idiots killing themselves for a cause they don't understand? Innocent civilians being murdered? Cruelty to sheep? Check, check and check.
* PoliceAreUseless: Jury is still out on whether they're more or less incompetent than the suicide bombers but [[spoiler: they attack and arrest Omar's peace-loving brother in the middle of a meeting with his Muslim friends whilst Omar is stuffing nitroglycerin into a Honey Monster outfit, they shoot an innocent marathon runner dressed as Chewbacca and after a naive negotiator completely flubs the Waj hostage situation, they break in and shoot his hostage.]]
* QuoteMine: Intentionally invoked and subverted with some of the movie posters. Instead of the usual three-word out-of-context reviews from each of the main national papers, they just show the word "[[http://www.four-lions.co.uk/downloads/funny_poster.jpg Funny]]" about [[strike:seven]] fifteen times.
** A further subversion in the poster fine print: "If you're reading this, find out what's wrong with you."
* ShoutOut:
** Debatable, but the sequence with the [[spoiler: police shooting the wrong person at the marathon]] reminded some viewers of the controversy over the shooting of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charles_De_Menezes Jean Charles De Menezes]].
** Hasan Malik's name may be a particularly dark one to Nidal Malik Hasan, who was responsible for the 2009 Ft. Hood shooting.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: A recurring criticism of the film is that the portrayal of Omar's family as loving and stable is an unconvincing, heavy-handed attempt to humanize a would-be suicide bomber. Morris has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uglk7QyxKs pointed out]] that this aspect of his character actually has a basis in a number of real life terrorists.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
* SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb: Literally, and delivered in person.
* StupidCrooks: Stupid terrorists, in this instance.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Omar. Although he's not exactly the sharpest nail in the bag either.
* TedBaxter: Barry
* TerroristsWithoutACause: Waj's response to being asked what his demands are by a police negotiator - "I... I don't think I have any..."
* TitleDrop: At the beginning of the final act.
* TooDumbToLive: All of the conspirators are this to some degree. [[spoiler: Waj's last words end up being a sort of admission of this.]]
* TortureCellar: [[spoiler: Ahmed's ultimate destination.]]
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler: Seeing Feisal's doubts about blowing himself up in context and knowing it's coming in the scene makes his demise [[TearJerker all the more sad.]]]]
* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
* VillainProtagonist: The Lions themselves, as a sympathetic portrayal of Jihadists.
* TheWarOnTerror: Terror Alert Level: Red.
* WomenAreWiser: Suggested, but ultimately averted. Omar's wife seems like a down-to-earth woman, but as the film progresses, we see that she's completely onboard with Omar's plan to kill himself, and doesn't seem to have the slightest problem with him leaving her a widow with a young son. Critics found this to be unrealistic, but the makers asserted that real terrorists often have remarkably stable home lives.
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges frosting.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Lions never refer to themselves or think of themselves as "Terrorists" and actually view themselves as holy warriors fighting the evils of Western Imperialism. More often than not, they refer to themselves as "Jihadists", which is taken from the translation of the word "Jihad" as "struggle". On the other hand, other rebel groups that employ similar violent tactics against British society, which the Lions are planning, [[HypocriticalHumor are referred to as "terrorists" by the Lions]]. Specifically, when Feisal mentions his "IRA voice" to Barry, Barry chastises him for using a "terrorist" voice which could blow their cover.
----
[[caption-width:300:One Crow]]
-->''"Rubber dinghy rapids, bro!"''
The debut feature film directed by ChrisMorris, and written by Morris in collaboration with Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain of ''PeepShow'' fame. It's a comedy of the type where a bunch of ordinary blokes, none of them the very sharpest of minds, take on a task bigger than themselves. Similar to ''TheFullMonty'', in a funny way. Except that they want to be [[BlackComedy Islamist suicide bombers]].
----
!!'''This film provides examples of: '''
* ActualPacifist: As part of the deconstruction of AcceptableReligiousTargets, Omar's fundamentalist Muslim brother Ahmed tries to talk him out of doing violence, which he rightly suspects he's planning. Naturally, the authorities see him as the terrorist mastermind behind it and are threatening him with torture at the end. Ahmed seems to be a more fundamentalist Muslim than Omar,ironically, refusing to enter the same room with Omar's wife and in Islamic garb everywhere he goes, whereas Omar wears Western-style clothes.
* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Well, all for some tampons and cotton buds]]
* {{Angrish}}:
** "FUCK MINI BABYBEL!"
** We also get an impressive stint of angry Urdu: "these useless fuck-my-auntie-from-a-standing-position pyjama-wearing cockerel dicks"
* AxCrazy: Barry is clearly not very stable, and one gets the impression that he's turned to radical Islam largely because it gives him an excuse to be violent.
* BaaBomb: [[spoiler: "One sheep was harmed in the making of this film"]]
* BlackComedy: [[RefugeInAudacity The blackest.]]
* BlatantLies: "That bag's full of... really fragile... boots."
* BloodyHilarious: [[spoiler: Feisal and the sheep end up in a binbag.]]
* BrickJoke: At the training camp, Waj and Omar try to use a rocket launcher to destroy a [=UAV=], only for it to fire backwards. [[spoiler: During the very end of the movie, we find out they took out OsamaBinLaden-this was a year before he actually was killed.]]
* BritishAccents: A nice smattering of various northern accents and a few London ones.
* ChekhovsSkill: Rather, Chekhov's Obnoxious Habit that Barry displays early on his tendency to eat inedible objects, either when he can't get his way or as part of his idiotic self-flagellation obsession (otherwise involving beans or urine). [[spoiler: His final act is attempting to swallow a SIM card to stop Omar from saving Waj's life, only to choke on it, causing a stranger to do the Heimlich maneuver, which sets off his bomb...]]
* CloudCuckooLander: Alice.
--> "I used to be in a band... until all the birds fell off the roof."
* ClusterFBomb: There's a lot of swearing in general, but Omar's [[BilingualBonus Urdu]] rants are a particular highlight.
* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Waj's Chicken Cottage rant, Barry asking Feisal to "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZVfyQyu9RY show me the voice]]"... the wannabe Jihadists seem unable to agree on what the point actually is. Even Omar, the guy with the most gumption out of the lot of them, fails to come up with a point whilst telling his son about his plans.
* CowerPower: Malcolm Storge MP hiding under the table when a would-be suicide bomber threatens an attack.
* CrapsackWorld: Essentially every character is either an idiot, crazy or both.
* DoubleEntendre:
** The Lions refer to each other as 'bro' constantly, and this serves both as a deep acknowledgment of their ties as Jihadists... and as a general, modern, completely vernacular form of Anglophone address.
** "Brother" is also the common form of address between fellow Muslim men, extremist or not.
** When they're at the van suiting up before [[spoiler: the marathon, a cop comes up and says "you're gonna die in those suits" to which Omar replies "Probably. It's all for a good cause"]]
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Very successfully averted. [[spoiler: Not one of the terrorists meet their quixotic goals and each is portrayed as exceedingly silly for the violent acts they eventually do commit.]]
* DownerEnding
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Omar was always intending to kill himself, obviously, but he ''had'' been about to change his mind and turn himself in... then the police indirectly kill Waj, and he changes his mind back out of grief.]]
* DumbMuscle: Waj. Noticeably bigger than his cohorts, manhandles on Omar's command, one functioning brain cell.
* EpicFail: But their fail is our win.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played with bizarrely - Omar is heading a terrorist plot to kill who-knows-how-many innocent people, but he still tries to take the moral high ground over his brother for "locking women in a cupboard."
* FauxYay: "We're going to get down to some gay business". They're not.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Barry eating his SIM card, talking about blowing up a pharmacy.
* GratuitousEnglish: Omar's Pakistani uncle speaks in Urdu but randomly throws in bits of English when he's ranting to Omar and Waj.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Julia Davis and Kevin Eldon, who have appeared in several other Chris Morris projects
** Malcolm Storge MP looks suspiciously like [[TheThickOfIt Julius Nicholson MP]]
** Alex is the loan shark from ''BlackBooks''
** {{Sherlock}} negotiates for the police in his spare time?
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Barry's justification for Jihad.
-->"Islam is cracking up! We got women talking back! We got people playing stringed instruments! It's the end of days."
* HypocriticalHumour:
** Omar rails against western culture, saying that it's obsessed with technology, escapism and other nonsense. However, the jihadists all make repeated references to how much they enjoy things like Xbox video games, English theme parks, Disney films, and even Rambo.
** The jihadists are all determined to kill unbelievers, but Barry starts insisting that they target a mosque and blame it on unbelievers, hoping this will radicalize moderate Muslims. Later, Waj holds a restaurant full of Muslims hostage. One of them even points out that Waj's bomb won't kill ''any'' unbelievers.
** The jihadists all think of themselves as champions of Islam, when none of them seem to be particularly religious. Hassan admits that he rarely goes to mosque, and Barry outright states that it's a waste of time, since he sees everyone in there as idiots and sellouts. Waj doesn't seem to understand the concept of praying to Mecca. Omar's family is much less conservative than his deeply religious brother, and they laugh off his religious arguments. Even Faisal, the most devout of the group, is only obeying laws that his father tells him to obey (and his father is crazy).
* IHaveThisFriend: In this case Omar's friend is called [[TheLionKing Simba]].
* InitiationCeremony: Barry makes Hassan insert a bean into his penis and Waj piss into his own mouth.
* InsaneTrollLogic:
** Barry suggests bombing a mosque to radicalize the moderates and incite revolution. Omar likens it to punching yourself in a street fight. Barry counters that you could punch yourself in the face to make yourself "go mental" and win the fight. Omar goads him into trying it, and Barry hits himself in the nose. Omar then mocks him for wiping the blood away, as this represents the jihadists that will be inspired by the mosque bombing, and he's wiping out the revolution...
** Barry starts recording a video taking credit for the planned bombing of a mosque that he intends to blame on unbelievers.
** Barry asserts, "You cannot win an argument just by being right." Even Waj points out the lack of logic in that one.
** When a police sniper tells his partner that the person in a Wookie costume he shot wasn't the target, the second sniper responds, "It must have been the target, because I shot it" (with the same logic repeated by Martin Storge MP when defending the police and the government's failure to prevent the attack at the end of the film; "as I understand it, the police shot the right man, but the wrong man exploded")
* KickTheDog: "YOU BROKE THE CHICKEN'S BEAK!"
* [[CaliforniaDoubling London Doubling]]: Some of the London scenes are Sheffield city centre. [[spoiler: Barry blowing up]] looks like the corner of Hawley Street and Campo Lane. Also, while the exterior of Meadowhall is shown, its interior is mostly played by another Sheffield shopping centre, Crystal Peaks.
* LosingYourHead: Feisal, literally and metaphorically; Hassan fails to clean up the LudicrousGibs properly and Feisal's head is found by the police.
-->"I told you... it was a knee!"
-->"It was a head! It was obviously a head!"
-->"It had a hinge!"
* ManChild: Waj brings a toy gun to the shooting of his Jihad video, reads children's books, and his conception of the afterlife is that of a theme park ride. To a smaller degree, the rest of the protagonists are all crushingly naive. Conversely, Omar's son is shown to be pretty sharp when Omar tries to justify suicide bombing by way of ''TheLionKing''.
* MartyrdomCulture: Deconstructed, with idiocy.
--> "He'll be in heaven before his head hits the ceiling!"
* MistakenForGay: How they get rid of Alice, who apparently doesn't like gay people.
* MistakenForTerrorist: Played with several times.
* MoodDissonance: Every other scene
* MoodWhiplash: Many times - it's by ChrisMorris, fer chrissakes.
* TheNeidermeyer: Barry.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The poor unwitting first-aider who comes to Barry's aid, and the police who [[spoiler: burst in just in time to distract Waj from Omar's order to give himself up peacefully.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: An attempt to take out a US [=UAV=] ends up [[spoiler:killing Osama Bin Laden]].
* NitroExpress: The five wannabe mujahideen have to transport home-made explosives. They try to drive carefully, but hit a tree. They then have to do a very silly run the rest of the way.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: None except the BaaBomb.
* NoExceptYes: "It's not a cupboard! It's... it's a small room."
* NonIndicativeName: The film is called ''Four Lions'', but there are five main jihadists in the film. [[spoiler:One doesn't make it to the Title Drop, however]].
* NoodleImplements: ''*pulls out a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetabix weetabix]]*:'' "We know a lot more than you think!"
* OhCrap: [[http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Four-Lions-04345.jpg Two of the three lions present]] who [[spoiler: witness Feisal's death]]. The other is too stupid to immediately comprehend what's happened.
* OopNorth: Set and filmed mostly in Sheffield. Omar works as a security guard at Meadowhall. The hospital scene is the main entrance of the Northern General Hospital.
* OnlySaneMan: Omar. And he's not especially bright.
* PlayedForLaughs: Stupid idiots killing themselves for a cause they don't understand? Innocent civilians being murdered? Cruelty to sheep? Check, check and check.
* PoliceAreUseless: Jury is still out on whether they're more or less incompetent than the suicide bombers but [[spoiler: they attack and arrest Omar's peace-loving brother in the middle of a meeting with his Muslim friends whilst Omar is stuffing nitroglycerin into a Honey Monster outfit, they shoot an innocent marathon runner dressed as Chewbacca and after a naive negotiator completely flubs the Waj hostage situation, they break in and shoot his hostage.]]
* QuoteMine: Intentionally invoked and subverted with some of the movie posters. Instead of the usual three-word out-of-context reviews from each of the main national papers, they just show the word "[[http://www.four-lions.co.uk/downloads/funny_poster.jpg Funny]]" about [[strike:seven]] fifteen times.
** A further subversion in the poster fine print: "If you're reading this, find out what's wrong with you."
* ShoutOut:
** Debatable, but the sequence with the [[spoiler: police shooting the wrong person at the marathon]] reminded some viewers of the controversy over the shooting of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charles_De_Menezes Jean Charles De Menezes]].
** Hasan Malik's name may be a particularly dark one to Nidal Malik Hasan, who was responsible for the 2009 Ft. Hood shooting.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: A recurring criticism of the film is that the portrayal of Omar's family as loving and stable is an unconvincing, heavy-handed attempt to humanize a would-be suicide bomber. Morris has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uglk7QyxKs pointed out]] that this aspect of his character actually has a basis in a number of real life terrorists.
** It's pretty ironic, and chilling, seeing Omar at home with his wife Sofia, both of them apparently far more "Western" than his brother, yet he's the one arguing against violence, while they're planning it.
* SenselessSacrifice: Explored inside-out in hilarious/shocking fashion.
* SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb: Literally, and delivered in person.
* StupidCrooks: Stupid terrorists, in this instance.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Omar. Although he's not exactly the sharpest nail in the bag either.
* TedBaxter: Barry
* TerroristsWithoutACause: Waj's response to being asked what his demands are by a police negotiator - "I... I don't think I have any..."
* TitleDrop: At the beginning of the final act.
* TooDumbToLive: All of the conspirators are this to some degree. [[spoiler: Waj's last words end up being a sort of admission of this.]]
* TortureCellar: [[spoiler: Ahmed's ultimate destination.]]
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler: Seeing Feisal's doubts about blowing himself up in context and knowing it's coming in the scene makes his demise [[TearJerker all the more sad.]]]]
* UndignifiedDeath: Practically all of them.
* VillainProtagonist: The Lions themselves, as a sympathetic portrayal of Jihadists.
* TheWarOnTerror: Terror Alert Level: Red.
* WomenAreWiser: Suggested, but ultimately averted. Omar's wife seems like a down-to-earth woman, but as the film progresses, we see that she's completely onboard with Omar's plan to kill himself, and doesn't seem to have the slightest problem with him leaving her a widow with a young son. Critics found this to be unrealistic, but the makers asserted that real terrorists often have remarkably stable home lives.
* XMeetsY: It's ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' Meets ''TheLadykillers'' Meets ''Series/DadsArmy'' Meets ''Paradise Now''. With a layer of ThreeStooges frosting.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Lions never refer to themselves or think of themselves as "Terrorists" and actually view themselves as holy warriors fighting the evils of Western Imperialism. More often than not, they refer to themselves as "Jihadists", which is taken from the translation of the word "Jihad" as "struggle". On the other hand, other rebel groups that employ similar violent tactics against British society, which the Lions are planning, [[HypocriticalHumor are referred to as "terrorists" by the Lions]]. Specifically, when Feisal mentions his "IRA voice" to Barry, Barry chastises him for using a "terrorist" voice which could blow their cover.
----
