Imagine watching one of your best high school mates live out your grandest dreams while your life spirals towards obscurity and oblivion. This was the case for Neil McCormick, a talented but ego driven Dublin youth desperate for the success his pal Bono found, and the result is the bittersweet “Killing Bono”, a solid translation of his memoir. Like a bad car wreck, you know how it ends, but the endearing characters and wholly deserved ascension U2 achieved keep you from looking away.
Brothers Neil (Ben Barnes) and Ivan (Robert Sheehan) McCormick went to school with the boys that would become part of the biggest band in the world, and the film opens with the fellas firmly entrenched in high school idealism. Neil is confident his frontman appeal will lead directly to sold out stadiums, and Ivan is already an assured musician. The boy that would rebrand himself Bono (Martin McCann) is forming his own band, and asks Neil if he can have Ivan as his rhythm guitarist. But Neil refuses to give up his brother to a rival band, so he and Bono agree to tell Ivan it was decided the fledgling rockers didn’t need a rhythm guitarist. Of course, no one knew that Neil and Ivan’s band would sputter out while the other would quickly get signed and start their journey towards worldwide fame. Choices are made that chart the course of a life, and perhaps the worst of these choices is Neil never telling Ivan he could have been in U2, the first of many lies and half truths that set Neil’s life course towards disaster and heartbreak.
Set over a dozen or so years from the mid ‘70s to mid ‘80s, “Killing Bono” features a strong soundtrack and a visual style that matches the period. The performances are honest and endearing, and Martin McCann delivers a strong turn as the assured Bono. Solid supporting roles abound, with the late Pete Postlethwaite stealing scenes as the boys’ supportive gay landlord and Krysten Ritter lighting up the screen as Neil’s girlfriend and band manager. The one downfall is the sense of impending failure. This is a “rags to rags” story, and we all know the ending. There’s no real chance of redemption, and the film’s structure, opening with a tease of Neil at his nadir, tells the audience they’re in for heartbreak.
It’s tough to root for characters you know will fail, especially when Neil does his best to sabotage opportunities at every turn while bringing his younger brother down with him. Neil made the biggest decision of his brother’s life for him, and while we desperately want to hope that lightning can strike a working class community twice, reality intervenes. Perhaps Neil could have had a fine life watching his younger brother scale the mountain alongside Bono and The Edge, but rock stardom is fueled by adolescent certainty, and no one makes it by conceding their pal is better than they are, even if it’s true. So Neil refuses Bono’s help at every turn, choosing to try and make it completely on his own. Though we do wish Neil would, it’s awful tough to resent U2’s success along with him. The film takes the audience through the release of “The Joshua Tree”, arguably one of the best albums of all time. U2 may have made some missteps, but their early work was undisputably original and musically interesting. Perhaps if Neil had been able to see the greatness in others as easily as he saw it in himself, this story would have played out differently.
“Killing Bono” works as an authentic picture of a period in musical history as well as in life, when all things are possible and the sky is the limit. The loss of that dream is all too familiar to many, including the “99%”, a curiously-timed reference used in the film to describe all the bands that don’t make it. We all know Neil and Ivan’s effort is doomed to join that group, but as the film attests, life goes on. Though you may not find the experiences you wanted, the choices you make during the journey are inevitably what define you.
DIRECTOR: Nick Hamm SCREENWRITERS: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Simon Maxwell, Neil McCormick (novel) CAST: Robert Sheehan, Krysten Ritter, Ben Barnes, Pete Postlethwaite MPAA RATING: R
