Review of Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) by Dave C — 18 Nov 2010

A thriller with some emotional impact, but it tends to jump through events with reckless abandon and one feels as if you are waiting for the next "video game mission cutscene" to unfold before you pick up the controller and start running around the sandbox.

I wonder what Martin McGartland feels about the portrayal. You wouldn't imagine he'd want the attention, but perhaps acknowledged sacrifice is enough to have worth.

I also expect some people see him as traitorous for working with British imperialist forces. They'd surely be rankled by the suggestion he is a hero.

Everybody is trying to convince themselves they are "saving lives", but all you see is more life taken. Only a person who lived there could truly know how it was.

Performances run from credible to engaging, with the leads playing admirably.

Ultraviolence is done well, leaving one feeling terror of the victim, pain of the tortured, and empathetic feeling of the observer.