Northern Exposure
http://www.afterhours.ie/articles/151/1/Northern-Exposure/Page1.html
John O'Donnell
By John O'Donnell
Published on 04/9/2009
Review of 50 Dead Men Walking
Northern Exposure
The Troubles continue to burrow their way into the cinema mainstream with this new release. Following hot on the heels of Hunger and Five Minutes of Heaven, Fifty Dead Men Walking tells the true story of Martin McGartland’s infiltration of the IRA in the late 1980s
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Directed by: Kari Skogland
STARRING: Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Zegers, Natalie Pres & Rose McGowan
RELEASED: 10 April 2009
CERTIFICATE: 15a (ROI) / 15 (NI)
R/T: 117 MINUTES
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4KFeCJtvwA
Based on a true story, Fifty Dead Men Walking the big screen adaptation of the book written by Martin McGartland who has been on the run from the IRA since 1991 when he was exposed as an informant to British security forces.
The movie begins in 1999 with Martin being shot. Cue a flash back to tell the story of he got himself into such a horrible mess.
We are taken back to the mid eighties where Marty is a cheeky young lad flogging stolen goods out of suit case like a door to door Delboy for West Belfast. Martin occasionally enjoys a spot of rock throwing and general rioting so it isn’t long before British forces take an interest in him.
This interest is heightened after a chase scene when Martin’s friend Sean scarpers during a seemingly innocuous chit chat with some squadies. Martin follows suit and sets off across the estate taking some inexplicable detours along the way. You may find yourself asking “Why did he jump over that car?”.
When he’s caught, Martin is shown pictures of himself chucking stones. That is not considered a major offense and Martin is released. Fergus (Ben Kinsley) has been watching behind the scenes and wants Martin followed.
Having shown defiance in the face of the Brits, Martin then turns his attention to IRA by interupting a punishment beating on one of his customers. Martin can’t prevent his friend being knee capped but his display of balls gets him an invitation to do some driving for the boys.
Soon afterward some British soldiers give Martin a bit of abuse. Martin’s reraction starts a riot and he is bundled into a van and taken to meet Fergus who offers Martin money in exchange for information on the IRA.
Initially Martin rejects the advance and takes the position with the IRA but his conscience soon weighs on him when he witnesses the results of his work and he begins to pass info onto Fergus.
Martin’s seemingly limitless lack of fear sees him progress through the ranks of the IRA, eventually reaching the positioin of fully fledged volunteer in charge of actual missions. All the while he continues to slip Fergus the word on what’s going on.
Soon after he has been made, Martin is introduced to Grace (McGowan) who is senior intelegence with the IRA and likes sex to manipulate men. You can tell McGowan is trying really hard to put in a good performance and she manages some good spells with her limited screen time but her accent slips from realistic to storebought a couple of times too many for her to be believeable.
The other big name actor in the movie suffers from moments of disbelief as well. Ben Kingsley is a terrific actor and for the most part he’s having a belter, but when the action heats up he is just not convincing. He is still best known for playing Ghandi so its very odd to see him jamming a gun in someone’s face.
One actor who does not dissapoint whatsoever is Jim Sturgess as Martin. He takes you into the world of a working class catholic from West Belfast with real conviction. The tattoo bearing, mustache wearing, stone throwing parent in an unmarried family owns every inch of the screen and makes more experienced actors look ordinary.
Sturgess’s perfect performance deserves a perfect movie. This is a good movie but it is far from perfect. Too many aspects seem contrived. The scene where Martin gets made a volunteer is like something out of Goodfellas. The Grace character is made out to be some kind of Bond Girl. The question of Fergus being a father figure to Martin is slapped across the viewers face with the line “I’m not lookin’ for a Da”.
In the end if your looking for Hunger part two you will be dissapointed. If your looking for gangster/espionage type affair with political overtones then this should suit you better.
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Directed by: Kari Skogland
STARRING: Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Zegers, Natalie Pres & Rose McGowan
RELEASED: 10 April 2009
CERTIFICATE: 15a (ROI) / 15 (NI)
R/T: 117 MINUTES
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4KFeCJtvwA
Based on a true story, Fifty Dead Men Walking the big screen adaptation of the book written by Martin McGartland who has been on the run from the IRA since 1991 when he was exposed as an informant to British security forces.
The movie begins in 1999 with Martin being shot. Cue a flash back to tell the story of he got himself into such a horrible mess.
We are taken back to the mid eighties where Marty is a cheeky young lad flogging stolen goods out of suit case like a door to door Delboy for West Belfast. Martin occasionally enjoys a spot of rock throwing and general rioting so it isn’t long before British forces take an interest in him.
This interest is heightened after a chase scene when Martin’s friend Sean scarpers during a seemingly innocuous chit chat with some squadies. Martin follows suit and sets off across the estate taking some inexplicable detours along the way. You may find yourself asking “Why did he jump over that car?”.
When he’s caught, Martin is shown pictures of himself chucking stones. That is not considered a major offense and Martin is released. Fergus (Ben Kinsley) has been watching behind the scenes and wants Martin followed.
Having shown defiance in the face of the Brits, Martin then turns his attention to IRA by interupting a punishment beating on one of his customers. Martin can’t prevent his friend being knee capped but his display of balls gets him an invitation to do some driving for the boys.
Soon afterward some British soldiers give Martin a bit of abuse. Martin’s reraction starts a riot and he is bundled into a van and taken to meet Fergus who offers Martin money in exchange for information on the IRA.
Initially Martin rejects the advance and takes the position with the IRA but his conscience soon weighs on him when he witnesses the results of his work and he begins to pass info onto Fergus.
Martin’s seemingly limitless lack of fear sees him progress through the ranks of the IRA, eventually reaching the positioin of fully fledged volunteer in charge of actual missions. All the while he continues to slip Fergus the word on what’s going on.
Soon after he has been made, Martin is introduced to Grace (McGowan) who is senior intelegence with the IRA and likes sex to manipulate men. You can tell McGowan is trying really hard to put in a good performance and she manages some good spells with her limited screen time but her accent slips from realistic to storebought a couple of times too many for her to be believeable.
The other big name actor in the movie suffers from moments of disbelief as well. Ben Kingsley is a terrific actor and for the most part he’s having a belter, but when the action heats up he is just not convincing. He is still best known for playing Ghandi so its very odd to see him jamming a gun in someone’s face.
One actor who does not dissapoint whatsoever is Jim Sturgess as Martin. He takes you into the world of a working class catholic from West Belfast with real conviction. The tattoo bearing, mustache wearing, stone throwing parent in an unmarried family owns every inch of the screen and makes more experienced actors look ordinary.
Sturgess’s perfect performance deserves a perfect movie. This is a good movie but it is far from perfect. Too many aspects seem contrived. The scene where Martin gets made a volunteer is like something out of Goodfellas. The Grace character is made out to be some kind of Bond Girl. The question of Fergus being a father figure to Martin is slapped across the viewers face with the line “I’m not lookin’ for a Da”.
In the end if your looking for Hunger part two you will be dissapointed. If your looking for gangster/espionage type affair with political overtones then this should suit you better.