In the 1980s in Northern Ireland, a petty hustler named Martin McGartland (Jim Sturgess) went from street-corner obscurity to playing a major role in the war in Belfast between Catholics and Protestants, as he swore allegiance to the militant branch of the IRA while spying for the British police.
On screen, McGartland's unusual true-life tale, in which he twists in the wind with amoral terrorists on all sides, is reduced to a fast-paced but uninvolving melodrama that's not helped by a hammy Ben Kingsley as an English underground cop or Rose McGowan as a hottie IRA babe.
Maybe an inspired director could have elevated the movie, but this Irish-Canadian co-production is stuck with mediocre Canuck TV director Kari Skogland at the helm.
