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Killing of John Lennon, The

4/10

Stars: Jonas Ball, Sofia Dubrawski, Robert C Kirk, Thomas A McMahon, Joe Abbate

Director: Andrew Piddington

'I was Mr Nobody, but I killed the biggest somebody on earth.' This long and frequently enervating examination of Mark Chapman, the wacko who whacked John Lennon of The Beatles by shooting him five times in 1980, is an intense docudrama that belongs more properly on late-night TV, where it will be of some interest to those fascinated to know more about the subject.

Actor Jonas Ball, though good, can do little to humanise the loner obsessed with J D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, depressed with his life and determined to gun down a celebrity. He becomes fixated with Lennon after reading about him in a book. 'He says "Imagine there's no possessions" and here he is with all his yachts and his wealth...I knew I was going to kill him.' Chapman is still in jail today.

Alan Frank

USA 2007. UK Distributor: The Works. Colour by Du Art/FotoKem.
114 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 03 Dec 2007