Saipan (2025)

Saipan is directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa and it tells the story of the fallout between the coach of the Republic of Ireland Men’s Football team Mick McCarthy (played by Steve Coogan) and the captain of the team Roy Keane (played by Éanna Hardwicke) on the eve of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. The film got off to a worrying start literally from the very beginning. There must have been 10 production companies. Now I know that if you put a great deal of money into the film you will want to see your company's name on the big screen but after two or three companies it starts to feel like a gag, which is not the best way to start a movie.

This film does work even if you are a novice to football and obviously wouldn’t be aware of this event. I remember it happening but didn’t know many of the details. I know who Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy are but I was never the biggest fan of Roy Keane and whilst I can understand his frustrations, he never comes across in the film or in real life as a particularly happy individual. This may not have been the intention but  Coogan plays McCarthy well although there were a few Alan Partridge moments. Hardwicke does a good job of playing Roy Keane. Neither man looks similar to their real life people but Hardwicke manages to make you sympathetic to his frustrations even if he doesn't go about it the best way to express it.

The film does a good job of building things up but there aren’t many scenes that really stand out. If you want scenes between McCarthy and Keane then every so often you get what you want. The only really good scene is the final showdown between the two which it feels like it has been bubbling along for quite a while and was inevitable. All the other ‘encounters’ between the two have felt like enough to show they don’t get on and that something bigger was coming so from a story point of view it did what it needed to do and it did it very well.

The film works because of these two. It’s not a particularly action packed movie but the story does ramp up to the inevitable showdown and because of how good Coogan and Hardwicke are you are engrossed when they are on screen together. Everyone else is sort of a supporting character because Roy and Mick are the two most interesting people. One mildmannered and likeable coach and the other is a hot headed and talented footballer.

It was a good film but one that would have worked out perfectly well on streaming. This was the first time in a very long while where I was the only person in the screening. Ok it was 4:40 on a Monday afternoon but I have seen films at this time and there have been a few more people in. The house lights weren’t on so I had to use the light on my phone to find my way to my seat.