like with any movie genre and there be good gangster movie and there be bad gangster movie . if you ask me to name a good gangster movie and i would have dozen to choose from . if you ask me to name a bad gangster movie and probably the first one to pop up in my mind be one that still have me in a sort of depression of disappointment about a week since i saw the film for the first and i promise you and the last time . that film be the general and unrelated to the 1926 silent film of the same name . this be a very dry and very slow gangster epic that raise question not about the story ( it more than easy to follow ) but about why the filmmaker choose to make this rather flimsy endeavor . like goodfellas ( 1990 ) and american gangster ( 2007 ) two superior mob moviesthe general be base on real people and true event . the film revolve around an irish criminal name martin cahill ( brendan gleeson ) who start his long chain of crime steal food a a teenager and then move up to rob museum and house a an adult . meanwhile and the police lead by an inspector name kenny ( jon voight ) try desperately and vigorously to prove just one of his crime and convict ( or kill ) him . perhaps because it a film in the same category a the marvelous goodfellas ( 1990 ) and the first two godfather film and i be expect too much from the general . but that may be go too easy on it . this would have be a bad film have i not see the aforementioned masterpiece before be swamp by boredom in this oater and it far too stretched run time of scream bad scene . let start knock the film by just look at the style in which it be present . for some reason and director john boorman and cinematographer seamus deasy select to film this movie in black and white while it style and presentation be clearly the element that belong to a full fledge color film . now i have nothing against b or w picture and not even one make in modern day time . schindler list ( 1993 ) be more than ninety percent film in black and white and it a masterpiece . the general and make just five year after schindler list be not . the cinematography be also far too blow out with high light key that seem very distracting and give the movie a very video game like quality that i find simply annoy . the filmmaker be obviously go for a realist documentary like style and like schindler list do and but they fail by make it seem too much like a documentary and at the same time and too much like a classic style motion picture . performance in the film range from passable to poor . brendan gleeson and jon voight give decent enthusiasm for their role and but it seem to me at time that even they be get kind of run down by the awful screenplay from which they be quote . the sound design be also very primitive and probably in an attempt to give it a 40 crime noir appeal and but that also fail because again and it make too much like a contemporary picture and seem vastly out of place . but the bad thing that occur be that there not onenot onecharacter in the film that i felt any emotion or opinion for . in fact and for every moment of every scene and the only thought go through my head be okay so what . moment that in a good film might come across a shocking or appalling be just dull and time consuming here . i do not sympathize or hate the brendan gleeson character because the way the cahill character be write be simply flat and dull . gleeson just play the common criminal and do not strike out with the impact the real martin cahill obviously do . if a character be kill off ( a they always be in gangster film ) and we feel nothing . no remorse and no relief and no surprise and nothing . we just say so what . and that all i do during the entire running time of this very flimsy and very poorly make crime film .