2010 is right around the corner, and so is the U.S. release of Fifty Dead Men Walking on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, Jan 5th. One of the most critically acclaimed of Jim’s roles, here’s just a few of the accolades from the reviewers and critics:
Chicago’s Daily Herald says about Jim, “Appealing English actor Jim Sturgess plays Martin as a conflicted soul constantly drawn into suspenseful circumstances. Sturgess’ transparent portrait of Martin dominates this drama with such immediate, egoless power that it easily compensates for the times that the story falls into confusing alliances among a kajillion factions scrambling for political traction in Belfast.”
Boston Herald.com says, “Sturgess brings a lean and hungry look to Martin, a mix of outrage and fear. His work recalls Victor McLaglen’s Academy Award-winning turn as Gypo Nolan in John Ford’s 1935 classic “The Informer.”
The New York Times says, “Mr. Sturgess’s Martin is almost unrecognizable from the Paul-McCartney-John Lennon-like hybrid he embodied so appealingly in Across the Universe. Here he is a scruffy, mustached petty crook whose anarchic impulses and daredevil nature are channeled into espionage. After the opening scene, set in Canada in 1999, in which Martin is shot several times, the story flashes back to 1988, to find him eking out a living as a door-to-door salesman of stolen shoes and clothing in Belfast.”
Chicago Tribune gives the film 3 stars and says about Jim’s acting, “Jim Sturgess is excellent as McGartland, a hustler (we first meet him when he’s selling stolen undergarments door to door) whose double life threatens to split him in two. This young actor, who starred in the card-sharp schlocker “21” and “Across the Universe,” is the Meryl Streep of England—in terms of his skill with dialects, that is. The performance doesn’t settle for showboating, though: In his interactions with his British security op (Ben Kingsley), or with his lover (Natalie Press, eloquent in her depiction of a woman living with a shadow of a man), Sturgess lets us see the thrill of deceit as well as the panic induced by all the bloodletting in the ongoing Irish war.”
We encourage all the fans to support Jim by renting and/or purchasing this wonderful film. Just click on these links to Blockbuster, Netflix, and Amazon where Fifty Dead Men Walking is available.
