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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Peter Bradshaw

Blackbird review – Michael Flatley’s fabulously bad spy tale is a classic of egosploitation cinema

‘When Flatley punches out a henchman-baddie 10 times his size, it is a moment of unintentional comedy on a scale to rival the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games’ … Blackbird.
‘When Flatley punches out a henchman-baddie 10 times his size, it is a moment of unintentional comedy on a scale to rival the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games’ … Blackbird. Photograph: Brian Doherty

Since this increasingly legendary film starring Michael Flatley was briefly aired at London’s Raindance film festival in 2018 – a screening from which the media were barred – reports of it have been scattered, disjointed, unreliable. Like witnesses to a 10-bus pile-up on top of children coming out of a nursery school, those who saw it were traumatised and gibbering. The trailer which finally dropped online earlier this year was very disturbing, as it confirmed that the film really does exist.

Hats off … Blackbird.
Hats off … Blackbird. Photograph: Dancelord Pictures
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