‘LET ME MAKE YOU A MARTYR’ Reivew

One of the worst moves you can make to a movie is to mislabel it. In this day, labels matter. And so applying the wrong one can really sink a movie’s ability to get audiences interested. Such is the fate of a movie coming out of this year’s Fantasia and making its way straight to VOD, Let Me Make You A Martyr. This is a movie with a lot of good things going for it, but unfortunately, it’s listed on many sites as a crime movie rather than a thriller. And it is very much a thriller.

Let Me Make You a Martyr is the story of Drew Glass (Sons of Anarchy star Niko Nicotera), an adopted son with a crime boss father (Mark Boone Junior), who returns home to make things right and rescue his adopted sister (Sam Quartin) whom he is in love with. But while Drew plots to kill his father, his father hires a very talented hitman (Marilyn Manson) of his own.

There is something really good here at the base. The two writer/directors were also responsible for the short Judas Chariot, the inspiration for this film. I liked Judas Chariot a lot, and many, if not all of the things I enjoyed transition over to the film. This film is well acted and the style is interesting. The visual is also really resonant.

I think the sharp colors built with the strange characters really stand to set you off for most of the film. And this is primarily what allows the film to keep you guessing until the end. I really like a film that plays with the emotions of the audience. And I appreciate the act of being able to do that in the first place. In particular, Marilyn Manson is riveting and I loved every frame with him in it.

That being said, the issues come in with the story itself. The problem that plagues the film is one that plagues a lot of films adapted from short films. The writers attempted to fill the extra time with some characterizations, but the issue is that the ones they use are completely confusing. Secondly, this film is one of the slower films in this space. In that way, it reminds me a lot of Killing Them Softly. It has a nice premise, but it feels so drawn out that it’s hard to get behind. And when you do, it’s often confusing. But the end is nice and does save the story if nothing else.

Overall, it’s a fairly enjoyable film. I like a great deal of the elements and I would watch it again. The only thing I would caution is if you don’t like slow paces, this is the wrong film for you. Other than that, come for the look, stay for the Manson.