User reviews

The Iranian embassy siege was something I remember well, played out as it was on live television and being a huge fan of the docu-drama genre I anticipated this film most eagerly. First of all it was a right mission to get to see it at all and I expected it to have a much wider UK release. There was also confusing and conflicting information over the exact cinema release date given over the internet (First the 4th of August, then the 18th, then the 4th again!) Seeing it at the cinema resulted in me having to travel half the country!

For those who don't know the story, in April of 1980 the Iranian embassy was stormed by six armed men demanding the release of hostages in Iran over the mistreatment of their tribe by the Persians in Iran, but the UK had poor relations with Iran at the time and Iran was not going to give them anything. The UK was on it's own and for the first time in Television history, the actions of the largely anonymous Special Air Service, would be seen live for all to see.

The film is basically told from four main perspectives. An always excellent Mark Strong is hostage Negotiator, Max Vernon, a man acutely aware that lives are literally in his hands, and the emotional impact this has on him is one of the stronger aspects of the film and Strongs scenes are all appropriately gripping. Secondly is that of the SAS with Jamie Bell, in a very different role, playing Rusty Firmin, one of the soldiers leading the assault. Bell shows he has left the legacy of Billy Elliot well and truly behind him and is superb in this role. Tension notches up appropriately as he and his team ready themselves to go in. Thirdly is the insight into the upper echelons of the political discussions which went on between Billy Whitelaw (Tim Piggot-Smith in what may well have been his final role) as the options are raked over with an unseen Margaret Thatcher sending down her stance on terrorism. Ronan Vibert is noteworthy as the head of MI6 while Robert Portal plays SAS Colonel Mike Rose with the appropriate level of staunch professionalism while Martin Shaw adds gravitas to the proceedings though he is given very little to say or do.

Those inside the Embassy, both hostages and terrorists are fairly thinly drawn with the exception of the terrorist leader, Salim (A great performance from Ben Turner) and most of our insights into their interactions come via the other characters mentioned above. There is little attempt to humanise the Iranian hostages, we know nothing for example, about the one who is executed, so when this happens, we, the audience, feel little emotional loss. PC Trevor Locke stands out a little as he is given more to do, but just a few more lines of dialogue would have enabled us to emotionally connect with the hostages from the outset.

The fourth strand of the narrative is that of reporter Kate Adie and her cameraman, as they vie for the best shot over the reporter from a different rag (Either The Sun or The Mail, it wasn't clear to me) - I remember Kate Adie well from this reporting and felt Abbie Cornish was a little miscast in this role. She felt too glamorous with not a hair out of place and way too much makeup. This story line added very little to film. She spots the SAS leaving to train at one point and indicates she suspects more is afoot, but never vocalises her suspicions, so little is made of this. The interaction between her and the rival reporter could have been the cornerstone of lighter moments in this serious drama but they're lost and forgotten. This was the weakest element for me.

The siege unfolds over six days and it is the relationship between Mark Strong's character and terrorist leader Salim that is the most captivating.

Overall the film is paced well and Toa Fraser does an admirable job of handling the multiple characters and story lines, but the film starting as it does with the Embassy being taken, we have no time to get to know any of the hostages or feel a connection to them. A ten- minute sequence at the beginning of the film giving us an introduction to these characters would have made the emotional stakes a little higher for the viewer. BBC Sound Recordist Sim Harris is given little to say or do, so there is little context of who he is and the moment where he goes out onto the window ledge (An image scorched into the memory of all who saw it live on television) is not as dramatic and meaningful as it could have been.

The film side steps a few of the more controversial aspects of the raid. The terrorist who was captured was almost executed by the SAS out the back before they realised they were being filmed by the television station. I found the unobtrusive score lacked a dramatic emphasis at the appropriate moments and made it essentially underwhelming.

Overall, however, this is a solidly made drama with good performances and a suitable dour colour palette matching the setting of the 1980s and it shameful that such a drama, covering as it did, a flash point in UK history, did not receive a wider release. I would, despite my reservations, still recommend it.

The film had lots of potential but in the end was not perfect. There were strong characters in the real life drama. In most cases the actors were excellent and very convincing. One of the important characters is the award winning BBC journalist Kate Adie. Unfortunately Abbie Cornish did not have a convincing accent and did not portray Adie in the correct standing. It was a chance to highlight Kate Adie's groundbreaking journalist work for British TV. Unfortunately Abbie Cornish's casting spoiled the film for me.

'6 DAYS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A biographical action film about the 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London, and the heroic SAS soldiers that ended it. The movie was directed by Toa Fraser, and it was written by Glenn Standring. It stars Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish and Ben Turner. The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics, and it's now available on both video and VOD. I found it to be an interesting history lesson, and somewhat thrilling at times.

On April 30th, 1980 six armed Iranians raided the Iranian Embassy, in Princess Gate, London, and took 25 hostages. The world watched the intense drama on TV, for six days, while BBC reporter Kate Adie (Cornish) boldly covered it. Chief Inspector Max Vernon (Strong) handled the negotiations over the phone, with the terrorists' leader, Salim (Turner). While an SAS unit, including Rusty Firmin (Bell), prepared to regain control of the Embassy by force.

The movie is definitely interesting, and it has an especially insightful (somewhat sympathetic) view of the Iranian gunmen, especially their leader Salim. The Max Vernon character is also pretty sympathetic, and well played by Strong (who's always good). Ben Turner is also really good in his role. I was hoping for a little more from the film's climax though, I have to admit, but it is a well made and somewhat educational film.

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I cannot for the life of me understand why the silly accent of Abbie Cornish was not edited out, anything would have been less of a killer during moments of tension than that silly forced accent. The film makers couldn't get a british actress apparently?

Totally ruins the tension with her plumby narration at intense parts. Poorly conceived. The films' quite good, and I know Cornish is an excellent actress, but shoot the director please (in a non-violent way)..

What should have been a tense exciting retelling of the Iranian Embassy Siege is instead a slow moving turgid non event which is not worth the effort. A massive disappointment and every time Abbie Cornish appeared on screen as the BBCs Kate Adie I had to look away it was that embarrassing.

I was somehow shocked when I saw the ratings this movie got. Sure, this movie will not win big awards, or anything like that. But I actually truly enjoyed this picture, as an interesting movie about a historical fact that I didn't really know about due to my young age.

The movie doesn't lose time on futile details. It's an honest depiction of what happened over those six days. It starts immediately with the hostage. The movie feels genuine, and not meant as a brutal action movie.

Keeping details true to the facts is of course a good thing. But somewhere on the line, they forgot about character development. There were some key characters, but without being really key characters. You could feel they were somehow important to the story, but you never really got a back story on them. The best example is the woman of the BBC. I didn't grew up in the UK, so I never heard of her. After the movie ended, they explained who she was. I think they could have done a lot more with the characters. You just didn't feel an attachment to any of the characters. Same with the terrorists and the negotiator.

To be fair, it's not easy to do all this in just 1 hour and half. I genuine feel this movie needed some more screen time. If you enjoy movies based on true stories or historical events, you won't be disappointed.

I didn't have entirely high hopes for this, despite Mark Strong who in the main delivers great work, and Jamie Bell, who despite reminding me overtime of Billy Elliot has also done quite well in his roles in my opinion, but I thought it could be an interesting tale of this historical event.

In the main it wasn't terrible, Mark and Jamie act well enough, and the tell of the story is accurate enough based on what I remember of these events and subsequent stories written thereafter. Its not really an action movie, there is little to none of that... it's more about the thriller (perhaps) relationship between Mark Strong and the Hostage takers.... which was adequate, though not enough to stop me from wandering off and looking up twitter and Facebook midway through the app.

The worst element for me however is Abbie Cornish. The fake British accent was simply awful, clearly she is no better at doing an accent than she is at actually acting, it was bad, just awful. I was surprised to see that this movie was funded or in some way involved the New Zealand Film Commission (who clearly couldn't find a NZ script worth funding?), so maybe that explains the random appearances of kiwi and Aussie actors and accents popping up. It was simply distracting and irritating to me.

Overall, it was a meh film, as I say, it didn't keep my attention and the annoying accents, fake accents and terrible acting just added to the woe.

This film tells the story of the terrorist siege of the Iranian embassy back in 1980. The British government does everything they can to resolve the situation in six days.

The film wastes no time and begins with the siege. It maintains tension and urgency throughout the film, and time flies quickly. It is not easy to be the negotiator in this intense and fragile situation, and Mark Strong portrays the tough challenges very well. It is sad that he has to tell lies at the end. The ending is very intense. I enjoyed watching "6 Days".

It's 1980 London. After the Iranian revolution, armed men invade the Iranian embassy. They demand for their Arab comrades' release. Max Vernon (Mark Strong) is the lead police negotiator. Kate Adie (Abbie Cornish) is the BBC reporter. Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell) leads a team of SAS soldiers on a rescue mission.

It's a fine retelling of the true events. I sorta remember the incident. Mostly, I remember the outside with masked men breaking in during the rescue. This lays out the sequence of events. It's not overly-dramatic. The most exciting section is the rescue with all of its problems. The acting is strong. The plot is straight forward and the title leaves nothing to chance. There are no surprises. Six stars for six days.

The 1980 London terror attack. Those days are just the beginning of this new terrorism culture of middle-east. By the way, why should the world care about if one terror seeking just from another. That's the platform of this film. All about middle-east shit, dragged into the west.

Based on the real. The film was slow, though a decent film. Obviously predictable, but worth a watch. When the iranese embassy was taken hostage by a terror group with demands placed the England government to fulfil, how they have tackled the situation was told from multiple people's angle who were involved in it.

One thing it's missing was the some aspect of the tale from the hostages. I don't know why they did emotionalised this tale. Especially from the negative side. The actors were nice, the production too. Other than that it was not a most expected film of the year. Maybe not many have heard of it. Except it's more like a television film, I think once watchable.

6/10

Unlike the droopy moustaches favoured by the Hereford artists, this film doesn't feel that 'dated' - despite it being set in 1980.

Modern cinematic techniques and a fresh cast brought a much-needed coat of varnish to this historical piece. Time is split equally between 3 main antagonists: the SAS corporal heading up the Embassy team, the lead terrorist and the head of the negotiating team. It bring different aspects to a story that most UK citizens of a certain age know only too well. The youth will certainly find this 'old school' tale, one to remember.

The original score was simplistic, helping to aid the rise in tension and atmosphere. Unhurried and often a single note, it allows the viewer some thinking time and to put themselves in the same situation as the characters. The cast were (on the whole) believable with the exception of the Kate Adie impersonation which brought the thriller its only sour note.

In such a film, you don't need character development: this is a factual document where getting on with the story is far more important.

An overall decent movie based on more or less real life. However the reporter from BBC witch was just horribly acted out somewhst ruined it for me. Every time she spoke i just seemed to think i could do a better job myself. Just terrible. I did not ruin the entire movie for me, as others have noted, however this could be an 8/10 and her acting alone took it down to a 6/10. Also i dont seem to feel any emotional attachment to the characters. This points to a weak depiction of the real life events or there was not enough effort made to tell the story about the different perspectives of each side. The ending where the negotiator talks to his wife is simply sloppy and it ends of on a bad note for me.

Could have been GREAT, was MEH.

My wife exclaimed: Is that supposed to be Kate Adie? It certainly took me out of the movie as the actress playing her was too posh and pretty. Worse was still to come.

In the film 'Who Dares Wins' Lewis Collins played the SAS soldier, here we have Jamie Bell playing real life SAS hero, Rusty Firmin. Collins was one of the stars of the television series, The Professionals. Collins was in the Territorial Army and did marathon walks to raise money for charity such as a sponsored walk with ex boxing world champion, John Conteh. Bell is the lad from Billy Elliot and did not convince me as a crack SAS officer.

I watched the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy live on television in 1980, I was a kid at the time. I was not entirely sure for the reasons why the staff in the embassy were being held hostage but by the end of the evening I certainly knew what the SAS were capable of.

I just felt the film was rather workmanlike, a glorified television movie which told its story efficiently but lacked the excitement I felt of the events I saw on TV all those years ago.

6 Days is not the sort of film to live in your memory, even though ironically it is based on a true incident, that many older IMDB subscribers may well remember. As such, it is unlikely to raise the ire of those members of the self-styled history police, who frequently maintain a rage over "true stories" not being true enough. This is one of 6 Days's strengths, but also a weakness, in that the general narrative frequently plays out almost as a recreated documentary, rather than a self-contained thriller, based on real life events, such as the much earlier Who Dares Wins.

6 Days tells the 1980 story of the Iranian Embassy siege in London, when a group of anti- Khomeni Iranian Persians stormed the Iranian Embassy, in the hope that it would force the British Government to negotiate with Iran to free 91 Persian prisoners. Unfortunately for the terrorists they completely misread the international political realities of the time. Britain was a strong advocate of its ally the USA, whose Tehran embassy had been overrun by Islamists a few months earlier resulting in 60 hostages being taken, Britain as a result had a very strained relationship with Iran. Its relatively new prime minister Margaret Thatcher, also wanted to impress on foreign governments, that her administration would not negotiate with terrorists.

The film adopts 3 perspectives of 3 real life characters, swept up in the events of the siege and its final outcomes. The most dominant view is that of Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell) an SAS soldier who led the brigade's assault against the terrorists. Unsurprisingly Firmin was the film's technical consultant and also a published author on the siege. I must admit to a quiet admiration for Bell's underplaying of the role.

A further perspective is that of Max Vernon, the senior negotiator for the London Police, who is very transparent in his approach, in that he wants to try to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict, in the face of opposition from his political masters. A final and relatively minor perspective is that of BBC Journalist Kate Adie (Abbie Cornish), who is acknowledged as making a name for herself during this time, by invariably providing an up to date, insightful commentary of the main occurrences, as they unfolded over the course of the 6 days.

The main thing I took away from this film was the professionalism and constant training on view by the SAS team, though I note that some correspondents on these pages beg to differ as is their right. We see that many of the team members get very little rest over the period of the siege. They are constantly adapting their plans of action, based on any new intelligence they receive from inside the embassy. An example of this is when they suddenly switch to practising overrunning a bus, rather than the rooms of the embassy, because that appeared to be an option along the way. As well as this, they are constantly on standby ready to attack when given the all clear. We feel their collective tension, as well as tiredness.

Mark Strong was his usual convincing self, as the negotiator, but I have to say that during his segments, we were hearing lines of telephoned dialogue so familiar from other hostage dramas, I could just about recite them myself. Abbie Cornish's role by comparison was relatively minor, except for the fact we had portions of her character's on air descriptions, during the final dramatic raid.

The film is also a little unusual in that it is a New Zealand/UK co-production, but I have to admit the London locations, looked extremely true to life, as we see from the final news reel footage. I gather much of the studio stuff must have been shot in New Zealand, under Kiwi director To a Fraser, who contributes an overall extremely workman-like effort on what eventually ends up as an historically interesting film, that really doesn't stand out for any other particular reasons.

Lack of execution. Could have been so much better if The reporter played by someone else and not Abbie Cornish, she successfully did a pathetic job (would be an understatement) with absolutely no acting skills whatsoever. while you wait for a dramatic scene you get to hear her reporting which totally spoils the mood to watch further.

3/19/18. A docudrama of the 1980 Siege of London's Iranian Embassy by terrorists, taking everyone inside as hostages. When the frustrated terrorists felt like they weren't getting the response they wanted from the British government, they made the mistake of killing a hostage and tossing the body out of the embassy. The British government brought in the SAS (Special Air Service) to extract the rest of the hostages. And, SAS did just that will minimal collateral damage. This set the tone for Britain's response to any terrorist attack since then. A suspenseful movie worth watching and cathartic for anyone who has ever felt terrorists have taken away the peace of mind we expect in a civilized world.