Afghan Luke

I know this is fiction, but if you're going to have a movie embedded within an historical context, at least attempt to make that context somewhat accurate, or at least believable to anyone with even a limited knowledge of the event/events. I had to turn this off after 15 minutes there were so many inaccuracies.

The two things that did seem accurate.

1. It looked like it could be Afghanistan.

2. His guide was getting high.

Not accurate;

1. Snipers are not in four-man teams firing from moving vehicles. 2. There are no tent-bars in Afghanistan, much less those with dancing white women. Alcohol is against the law, and while I am sure that alcohol is smuggled in, it's abuse is not flaunted because it is illegal. 3. What newspaper has ever suppressed a story that denigrates soldiers?

Answer... none. The typical tact is to exaggerate every infraction and try to instigate it into some Muslim outrage and retaliation.

"It's a war, my job is to report what I see." When journalist Luke Benning (Stahl) is on a job in Afghanistan he catches a Canadian sniper cutting the fingers off of his taliban kills. When his paper refuses to print the story he quits and returns to the country to investigate further but soon finds that the fighting and tension has become much worse then when he left. There have been a recent influx of "embedded reporter" movies lately but they have all to this point been entertaining. While this was also a good movie and kept me interested it is basically another version of movies like "5 Days To War" or the "Bang Bang Club" (both of which I thought were better). Stahl does a good job and the movie is tense and thought provoking but like so many movies lately it seems to just copy everything else that is being released. I did like this one but "Bang Bang Club" was a better version. Overall, a movie worth watching but a new idea was needed to make it stand out. I give it a B-.

Good story at the start but more boring at the end I had dream a bigger scene for Colin Cunningham he is so great he can do a better character there

Journalist Luke (Nick Stahl) believes he witnessed a Canadian soldier (a sniper known as Freddy Krueger) cutting off the fingers of a dead Taliban fighter as a trophy and feels this is a crime. No one believes him when he is back at the newspaper in Canada. He feels he must return to Afghanistan and get evidence.

The is a good story, simple and easy to follow. The acting performances and dialogues were spot on, but it was the photography that held me. It was extremely good. The movie was not shot in Afghanistan , but somewhere in Canada and the cinematography was fantastic. How did they do that? Kudos.

His friend Tom (Nicholas Wright) goes with him but is more interested in the high quality of drugs there. His one-time guide, called a fixer, Mateen (Stephan Lobo) constantly changes sides and says something like: Your enemy today is your future ally. And, we witness a War Lord who wants to be a music producer. There is some humor in these sub plots.

This is a different type of war story. Luke is on a mission to find the burial place where the Taliban fighters were shot. Although Luke had been in Afghanistan many times before, he is discovering that things have changed and is now more dangerous and the tension is higher as no one can suspect what will happen next.

This is a film most won't see because the actors are unknown and has a low budget, hence not much promotion. But, if the cinematography held me maybe it will hold you too and the story is a good one.

I know you are probably thinking you know the outcome of Luke's mission, but you don't. However, if you do know the outcome, book yourself on the Psychic tour. You will make a lot of money. The outcome is really good. HA! And, yes, I am ready for a sequel. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, many f-bombs.

The first thing I noticed was the sound. It doesn't sound like a feature film - or even a TV drama. Luke, an aspiring journalist who takes himself way too seriously, is an unlikeable sod who believes a rumour that a Canadian Forces sharpshooter is chopping off fingers of dead Taliban fighters - a war crime. The story lacks ambition and imagination; the writing is comical leaving me thinking I was watching a mockumentary. Don't waste your time on this one. It's really quite bad.