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Progress is slow, with agents reporting on Michael's every word and the police always near to violently break up meetings. On one of these occasions, Michael gets battered enough to wind up in the care of country lass Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts). Whilst young, available and attractive, Kitty fails to fall for the dashing Michael, finding herself instead drawn to Harry. As they campaign further for the newly formed Sinn Fein, Michael winds up joining the unofficial cabinet of Eamon De Valera (Alan Rickman). The proclaimed President of Ireland, Eamon wants to force the British Government into giving them total independence by attacking them in massed encounters. Michael is hugely sceptical of this approach, mindful of the 1916 debacle, and is thus more open to the contact of Ned Broy (Stephen Rea), a G-man.
The point is that while Ned has been assigned by his British bosses to follow Michael, in the meantime he's become influenced by the stirring speeches. Hence the information that he passes over, which details how the entire cabinet is going to be rounded up and jailed, turns out to be correct. Luckily, being the suspicious sort, Michael and Harry evade capture. Realising that the occupying forces know far more about them than they'd thought, they decide to move onto guerrilla warfare and a small, close-knit team. With tip-offs from Ned, the terrorists manage to assassinate a good number of G-men and British agents. Unfortunately, the side effect is one of escalation, with the Black and Tans being formed specifically to neutralise Michael's forces.
Neil Jordan, ably assisted by Neeson, sculpts the triumphs and defeats of the "Big Man" into a noisy, bloody and mostly entertaining semi-biography. The driving force of Sinn Fein in its early days, Collins is portrayed as an everyman (unknown enough to walk the streets safely) who happens to realise that fighting the British on their own terms is suicide. Thus, with De Valera away in prison, Collins is able to take the IRA in hand and bring the British Government to its knees, enough to make him an Irish hero. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with triumphant rebel forces, the removal of the greater enemy allows previously hidden strains and disagreements to flourish. This is most apparent between the passionate, pragmatic Collins and manipulative, idealist De Valera. By focusing on the political and social struggles tearing Ireland apart at the time, Michael Collins illuminates both the man and the scars which criss-cross the fabric of Irish society.
Because of this hero-worship, Michael Collins is fundamentally dependent upon the performance of Neeson. Luckily he is superb, externally a simple, straightforward man, underneath a complex, smart and politically astute figure. The emotional nuances of Collins are beautifully shaded by Neeson, revealing just how much he cares for his country and countrymen. This level of acting is also reached by Rickman, Quinn and Rea (among others). Accompanied by some rapidly-paced and exciting action sequences, a splendid portrait of the times emerges. Regrettably, Roberts is one of the weaker aspects of Michael Collins (though it's not entirely her fault). The romantic subplot of Kitty lacks merit and could have easily been excised without loss (in fact the film would gain from the resulting increase in pace and sharper dramatic edge). It's not just that Roberts is lifeless, only present to draw in US viewers, but that the romantic/political comparisons are dreadfully clumsy and superfluous.
Michael Collins is fine when it sticks to broad strokes across the canvas of history, illustrating how the use of violence as a last resort has been perverted into the first resort today. When this is the case, the shallow handling of the historical reality behind Collins doesn't fatally wound the film. Unfortunately, Jordan not only pads the movie out, he also distorts the truth to fit his own perceptions and aims. Seeking to present Collins as a hero, the manipulation of facts draws you along during the show, only later leaving a bitter taste. The problem with this "dramatising" of history is that the audience knows that some scenes have been made up, but not which ones, hence the entire film lacks a fundamental veracity. However, despite this bluntness, Michael Collins does manage to make you root for the charismatic scapegoat that is Collins.
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