Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Duration: 117 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom / Canada
Directed by: Kari Skogland
Stars: Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Ben Kingsley
IMDb score:
6,8 (11.934)
Releasedate: 10 September 2008
Fifty Dead Men Walking plot
"When you cross the line there's no going back."
Late 1980s: British police recruit 22-year-old Martin McGartland from West Belfast to spy on the IRA. He manages to secure a place within the terror group by signing up as a volunteer. In the meantime, he passes on important information to the police, saving many lives.
Reviews & comments
Film Fan
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- 940 messages
- 2187 votes
Realistic and raw filmed drama about the civil war in Ireland. It shows the idiocy of the IRA and the British Army. Sturgess plays a great role here and puts Kingsley in the shade with his acting. The film has a good pace and there is enough tension in it. The film takes no real stance other than showing the madness of war. Interesting that real news footage has also been incorporated into this true drama.
Translated from Dutch · View original
scorsese
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- 13254 messages
- 11139 votes
Good film in which an Irish boy joins the IRA while passing information on to the British police in order to save lives. A solid, but often told, story. The second half is a lot more interesting and also more exciting. Jim Sturgess plays an excellent role. A narrow 3.5 stars.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Lovelyboy
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- 3963 messages
- 2962 votes
A film that was quite disappointing to me, a film that made me wonder whether this could not have been made more and moreover a film about which Martin MacGartland himself says that the print is as close to the truth as the Earth to Pluto. So is it a worthless movie? No, not that either.
The film revolves around young Martin, who is recruited in Ireland as a tipster against the usual torn, and nicely presented, background. Where no one seems to be trusted and you are equally well screwed and punished by both sides, the reason Fergus wants this young man is as logical as it is ill-founded. Because where he is apparently independent and unafraid, and doesn't have to dance to anyone's tune, he suddenly finds himself with the IRA as well as making contact himself to play the snitch for Fergus. A little more dialogue and substantiation would have been appropriate here, or I must have missed something.
A usual picture of attacks, foiled attacks, smuggling, messages and intercepted loads passes by and although there is a lot of blood flowing and some gross things take place, this IRA branch strikes me as a bunch of rebellious rascals, an anarchist and not too serious image that is reinforced by the punk music that is used. A constant image of a bunch of amateurs who mainly go small comes across to me, an image that is especially not in line with other IRA films. The tension that they suspect him or are looking for a rat at all is barely noticeable, except for the torture scene where they naturally put the wrong person to the test. A scene that is mainly to shock but otherwise not convincing. Only in the last half hour when he is unmasked and caught does something more sjeu and tension come into it.
A nice film, with a few moments of tension, nice for once but really too thin for a lasting impression.
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