Man Down (2015)

For me, this was all about the experience.

I just saw this tonight at the Toronto International Film Festival (with Shia LaBeouf and Kate Mara in the audience), in the lovely Roy Thomson Hall, and had absolutely no expectations going in. The premise sounded interesting (a marine returns from the Afghanistan war to post-apocalyptic America in search of his wife and son) , but in all honesty Shia was a bit of a red flag. The movie's I've seen him in have either been "meh" or not that good, and he usually gave mediocre performances in all of them. Plus, is he not crazy? Like, actually insane? Very sporadic dude to say the least.

After seeing this, I can confidently say I've never had my expectations shattered so hard before. This absolutely blew me out of the water in every way. The directing was brilliant, the supporting cast was spot on, but the real stars are screenwriter Adam Simon for coming up with such a unique and passionate idea, and Shia himself. This dude broke out of the image I had for him and gave a performance of a lifetime. It would be an absolute shame if it's not recognized in some way or another (whether that be awards or just general praise).

Now before you go see this, let me tell you that it really does take a while to get going. You may have mixed feelings at the beginning, and even partway into the middle, but once the credits roll and you leave the theatre, the experience you had will be unlike any other.

To conclude, I want to touch on experience again. Part of what made this so good for me was the experience (TIFF, watching it with Shia himself) but also the low expectations. In a way, a review takes away from the expectations. If you read this before watching Man Down, I only want you to take one thing away: it was good. That's it. Ignore all the praise I've just given it. It was good.

It was good.

Fmovies: I was very excited for this film from the moment i saw the trailer. The cast and the story all seemed like it would turn out great. The cast did very well Gary Oldman, Jai Courtney, Kate Mara, Cliffton Collins Jr, the kid and especially Shia as always. I got invested in the protagonist as the story unravels from two ends at the same time, it jumps between present and backstory explaining Shias behavior little by little as the movie goes and the ending had me pleasantly surprised since it came very unsuspecting. (it may have saved the film for me) Man Down does however fall short on poor production design and cheap CGI, mostly the apocalyptic themed scenes. Overall it is a good movie, but it could have been better.

+ Great cast - Cheap production

An excellent movie, though certainly not uplifting. Reviewers and others who hated it probably did so because the movie is not "pretty", contains no car chases, no nudity, no digitally enhanced B.S., and no sappy, contrived, over-the-top drama. To paraphrase part of the movie, it's all real". Worst of all for many who would prefer to live without acknowledging facts, it reminds us that America does not support its troops; America discards its troops. As the end credits declare, there are hundreds of thousands of discarded, homeless vets. Many with PTSD roam untreated, likewise discarded. We likely do not report those men/women as injured. The next time you feel all rah-rah about the U.S. sending troops into battle for reasons unclear, think of this show. Excellent acting, dialogue sometimes tough to understand. Those of you who want to "fight for America", know that those who sent you to war will not fight for you.

Man Down fmovies. Must watch till the end, then it suddenly makes so so so much sense & puts you in the mind of somebody with PTSD, the ending broke my heart.

I didn't understand why I saw many fan reviews stating they were bored or lost or found it uncompelling. Some stated they couldn't tell what was what. It was all very well laid out to me. I had no trouble following the story and my instincts were rewarded in the end. I'm not a 'fan' of LeBeouf but I knew he would bring a deep well of emotions to the role. He didn't fail. He's reached a new level and I'm glad to see it. The story was concise, demanded you paid attention as there were clues laid out and overall, given the subject matter, done about as well as one could do to get the viewer 'in' the story right away. I highly recommend this film.

Damn this one blew me out of the water! Here I thought I was going to watch some post apocalyptic film, and yeah I do like those sorts, but this film just left me breathless. I know the subject at hand is politically a very touchy subject, but no matter what side of the fence you sit at look at the damage that is still done to the best part of our generation, young men and women!

Sadly war is and has been part of humanity's own downfall, but seeing the numbers regarding the forgotten heroes at the end brought tears to this stone cold hearted tough as nails old mans eyes.

I don't know what else to say but to watch this film, one of the better on the subject for years.

10 out of 10 for me, and yeah I don't even care for the main lead actor, but man did he nail this role on the head.

Bring back our soldiers and look after those that needs us.