Resurrection Man

What a cruel, confused film . This could have been the definitive film dealing with the tribal hatred during the Irish troubles , but instead we get an incoherant , rather plotless tale of motiveless murders

I`ve never read the novel RESURRECTION MAN but it`s obvious the screenplay needs to be restructured since it tells us nothing of the reasons why Irishmen kill their fellow Irishmen. What made Victor Kelly this way ? Why is he regarded as a hero ? , and most importantly of all: Why are his gang called "The Resurrection Men " ? These questions are never fully explained

Worst of all the film seems to concentrate more on a wife beating Belfast journalist rather than Kelly . If the film had to revolve round him couldn`t he have been an English or American journalist ignorant of the complex situation of 70`s Belfast ? At least then they`d be some expositional context in the film. And on top of this major flaw most of the characters are superflious , they don`t contribute to the plot.

I might be missing the point that many terrorists in Ireland (Especially Loyalists ) aren`t intrested in politics or religion but are more intrested in venting blood lust , and to it`s credit the film does in gory detail show the suffering of the victims of violence , but after viewing RESURRECTION MAN the viewer will probably be left feeling that the film ( Like political violence ) is a waste of time.

For a detailed and informative study of Lenny Murphy ( Who Victor Kelly is based upon ) try finding Martin Dillon`s book THE SHANKHILL BUTCHERS:A CASE STUDY OF MASS MURDER

Eoin MacNamee's screenplay loses some of the visceral quality so powerfully evoked in his own novel, and the sense of place suffers badly from the movie having been shot entirely outside of Belfast.

A heavily fictionalised account of the life of notorious Loyalist murderer Lenny Murphy, the film admirably conveys the arbitrary nature of sectarian violence in Belfast in the 1970's, and the performances are universally excellent. Not for the squeamish, the film reminds us just how far Northern Ireland has had to come on its present peace process.

I guess this was as far as the filmmakers could go without actually calling Kelly Murphy. So instead of the audience being shown a film that could be called a true story, the events portrayed, however close to real life, take on an air of the surreal. The fact that there was a gang who did this sort of thing and a whole lot worse in the name of sectarian hatred is not made clear. Maybe they thought worldwide audiences would struggle with this concept, and introduced some kind of psychopathic blood lust to make the whole thing more believable. As it is, watching this film, and having read Martin Dillon's excellent book, I was left feeling frustrated, that an opportunity to portray the actual events was badly missed, being dumped into a crypto-fascist mishmash of conflicting motives. Living in N. Ireland, we know that there were and are people who could do this sort of thing and justify it on religious grounds..the film just isn't brave enough to say this, and so we are left with this psycho loner character that is frankly laughable. the gang weren't held in some kind of thrall by this psycho, acting against their will, they actually killed while Murphy was in prison, to make him look innocent. Townsend does what he was asked to do, it's just a pity he wasn't asked to do the right thing.

Resurrection Man focuses on sectarian violence in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Concentrating on what sort of characters are involved in this lifestyle and their relationships, but doesn't really go into much detail why. Which makes the film into a more stereotypical "two gangs battling" film, focusing mainly on the relationships between the members of the protestant gang, and making it all very stylish. This is the film's main flaw, it's feels like you've seen it before, it has been done before and better by others. That said, Resurrection Man has some good performances and a decent soundtrack, but on the whole, unless any of the plot lines are of interest to you personally, you might be better off watching some of the established "classics" of the genre that are fairly well known.

Making a film about any conflict is ambitious but making one during a conflict is even more so. This film tactfully tackles the story of the Shankill Butchers a gang that mindlessly slaughtered innocent civilians and got away with it because it was during the Troubles. Strong performances from O'Rawe and Fricker in creating authentic Belfast dialogue. Townsend is sensational as as Victor and Holmes music is as good as its gets - long love SugarSweet...! If this production had the same budget as Goodfellows I shudder to think how good it could have been. Open your mind and imagine what it was like to live in a western street in 1970 with the army running down it and bombs going off.