Resurrection Man

Notwithstanding a sterling central performance from the up-and-coming Townsend, this account of the deeds of the Shankhill Butchers (adapted by Eoin McNamee from his book) leaves a pretty nasty taste in the mouth. The problem lies in the film-makers' seeming inability to decide whether it's a political work, a genre thriller, or a study of violent psychopaths (in which case it doesn't tell us much about them). Regardless of the fact that the killers' contribution to the Belfast Troubles of the '70s was not politically motivated (though their capacity for carnage was used by the terrorists), and despite director Marc Evans' insistence that this is a fiction, the makers seem to want to have their cake and eat it, leaving the movie open to charges of sensationalist exploitation. Polished but dodgy.