Johnny Mad Dog

The violence is incredibly realistic, brutal and hard-hitting but there's little or no plot so it feels like a missed opportunity. The actors are all unknowns, and perform well, although there's not one role that requires much skill, until the final scene, which is a bit of a let down.

Its heart is in the right place, but the film dangerously skirts with portraying the situation as an issue a (white) Western viewer can dismiss as something that takes place outside their world view even if they feel emotional shock from the film. With its use of slow motion, and ill-advised references to the racial issues in the USA (such as using the song Strange Fruit), it somewhat trivialises the subject despite the serious tone.

"Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's deftly stylized camerawork reminds us at key intervals that what we're seeing is artifice, dramatization." - Joseph Jon Lanthier

Other than a few of the kid soldiers, the performances were blah. The story, if you call it that, doesn't really go anywhere. You get but a glimpse of some of the backdrop, how the kids are 'recruited' into the army, what some think about their situation, but not much more than that.

l found a weapon. - What weapon is it? - An Uzi. - Chinese? - No, Israeli. Chuck Norris used it in Delta Force. - So be careful! The lsraelis or Chuck Norris might be around!