“We are declaring war on your consumerist, capitalist, McDonalds-worshipping culture!”
“Yeah! You should be going Chicken Cottage instead, bro!”
To cap off 2025, let’s look at something a little different—a satirical black comedy from the UK all about jihadi terrorists, from director Chris Morris. Don’t see that every day, do you?
It’s funny to think that despite everything, even the War on Terror era this film emerged from feels almost quaint now—but as I always say, you’re never truly beaten if you can still laugh. Our focus here is on a group of disaffected young men living in the town of Sheffield (with thick accents to boot) led by Riz Ahmed as Omar, who is more a very culturally bitter person—alongside his dim compatriots played by Kayvan Novak and Adeel Akhtar, with the most fanatical among them being convert Nigel Lindsay, who perhaps is using the whole thing as an excuse to work through other obsessions he has. Between botched videos, painfully rhyming rap songs, and half-baked plans, all try to make their mark on the world as ineptly as only they could.
It’s a premise that could’ve easily turned into a really dumb farce, but between the performances and the perfectly timed dark humor, it all works. Ahmed in particular sells his role as the relatively sanest of them all perfectly, with some questioning his portrayal of a close family life (of course, in reality, this was real enough for all strands of fanatics convinced they’re on the true path). Everything is made ridiculous, but only just so that you can almost see it happening (and some of the things you see were based on things that actually did happen). There were indeed people who ended up blowing up just their underwear or got obsessed over swallowing SIM cards.
And then, of course, there’s the classic tirade from a Pakistani militant that goes immediately to eleven and only goes beyond that!
But what still makes it ring true is the final act when, as often in British films like this, the comedy tends to drop—there’s still memorable amusing parts like an appearance by Benedict Cumberbatch before he got famous playing a police negotiator, but at the end the film makes clear that what we’re dealing with are ultimately a bunch of guys pulled along into an almost nihilistic hole. In the 15 years since, we’ve seen similar things repeat beyond just the realms of post-9/11 terrorism—where those who feel disaffected can be taken on the worst and ultimately idiotic courses because someone said something just the right way. Of course, here incompetent authorities who ultimately end up sniping or arresting the wrong people aren’t exempt either—as memorable debates over bears or Wookiees go.
Perhaps not everyone will get into the premise, but if you do, there’s certainly plenty to chuckle at here. And despite it all, in the face of all things that have happened since, finding a way to laugh at it all is a good a way to get through it as any. Perhaps that’s the main message to take from this one, and it’s a thought to dwell on anyway as we bow out for this year—see you all in ’26…
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