 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Let Me Make You a Martyr • Year: 2016 • Country: USA • Director: Corey Asraf, John Swab • Main cast: Marilyn Manson, Mark Boone Junior, Sam Quartin • Runtime: 102 minutes • Production company: Iscariot Films, Actium Pictures • TRAILER |
Debutant directors Corey Asraf and John Swab presented this self destructive thriller that had the halo of controversy and novelty, like if this was suposed to become one of the new reference in sordid movies. And to be honest, after watching the film I can say there is not much controversy in it. Actually, it is a very common thriller about fucked up families and stray people living lifes of crime.
Part of the polemic of this film was the presence of shock rock star Marilyn Manson as a merciless native american hitman. Not arguing what blood runs in the veins of the popular singer, and only focusing on his performance, I must say although a no makeup Marilyn Manson has a quite impressive appearance his acting skills are far from decent. He was ok when his lines were a couple of words but for longer sentences he was just not convincing at all. And also, how somebody so used to shocking audiences for decades can be so stationary and motionless? So empty of charisma? I don’t know, he wasn’t convincing at all, and give a lame output to a character that was suposed to be one of the the creepiest factors of the film.
The plot goes like this, the son of a small time crime organization boss came clean and decided to put an end to his father’s dirty business and save his adoptive sister (and lover) from the black future awaiting for her if she stayed in the croocked town. Not the most original of the stories, but at least comes with a strong startpoint, which could had become something interesting if developed with more craft. But here is when the newbie filmmakers can’t take the action into a fresh direction. It feels like the main worry in Let Me Make You a Martyr is to portrait as many decadent images, characters and situations as possible. It is very hard to pick who is “the good guy” or the hero. No time for heroes here, only a line up of characters waiting for the moment they find death. And hope has no place in this film. This feeling of desperation and no future is well portraited, the images are very dark even in bright daylight. But that is not enough to hold interest through the whole the movie when the plot kind of driftes away.
I would like to have a special mention to the presence of Mark Boone Junior, a fancied of mine that after decades of being a mere bystander he is finally finding his little spot in wretched characters and bad ass criminals.
To summarize, I think if there is something this movie might be remembered about in the future is for the presence of Marilyn Manson, because if you scratch on the surface of the flick there is really not much more. After the expectation created, I left the auditorium quite disappointed. Recommended only for curiosity, but I wouldn’t call this a very enjoyable one. But if at the end you watch it, what do you think of the cop in the final scene? Is there gem a hidden twist? I would like to think it is but who knows. That would change the whole thing, wouldn’t it?
RATE: 4/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3699372
