Sadly Over-hyped

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I've been drawn to Johnny Mad Dog by the fact that Mathieu Kassovitz was one of the producers. Despite his escapades with Hollywood he was able to amass a fine body of work, so i was curious what he got involved with this time.I saw this movie as a powerful docudrama that shows the realities of a prolonged civil war in Subsaharan Africa. It follows the protagonists in a cold, almost detached, matter-of-fact way. When you give weapons to kids life becomes a simple but deadly game. The movie offers no answers, since it seems there are no answers. In this sense it is similar to Kassovitz's movie Hate (1995).But the strongest message is that this topic has been known for decades. As if the civil wars in Africa were a part of local folklore and there is nothing to be done about it.

I didn't really know what "Johnny Mad Dog" was going to be about, but I'm really into obscure foreign films as they usually become little gems. Still, with not much about this on IMDb and little being known about this film I was going to give it a miss on Film4. However, when I heard my favourite critic, Chris Tookey saying that he loved it I had to give it a chance because often anything he loves, I love. However, this is one of the few films we will have to remain indifferent on."Johnny Mad Dog" follows a group of child soldiers in Liberia 'fighting for freedom' by murdering and raping innocent families and even children. I found it all quite upsetting actually and it really is not a fun watch. Don't get me wrong I like a gut-wrenching, hard hitting film as much as the next person, maybe even more so, but I prefer it when a bit of plot is thrown in. For me "Johnny Mad Dog" was simply horrible people doing horrible things. There is a nice sub-plot with the little girl regarding her father and brother which follows her journey which is interesting. She's the only character you could feel sympathy for, but her story was pushed to the side for the child soldiers.There isn't anyone to like and after a while it becomes repetitious and dull. I suppose this is its point, that horrible things and unacceptable things are happening in third-world countries now and something needs to be done. It reminded me of "Full Metal Jacket" in a way (which I also only gave two stars) in that it shows the horrors of war through realism. There are a few scenes that are actually quite gripping and well written, but most of them are just repetitive and boring."Johnny Mad Dog" was quite beautifully shot, especially when it juxtaposed the raw hand-held close-ups in the war scenes with still ones, like with the boy in the wedding dress at the beginning. It's also quite interesting when these heartless child soldiers show some compassion and I really did like the ending. I did feel moved after watching it, but I can't help but think with a clear narrative that this could've been something of a masterpiece.My opinion was that I was bored through a lot of it. It's not nice to watch and I would not watch it again, but it is something that I won't forget. Still, films can be extremely hard-hitting yet grip you at the same time with a strong narrative e.g. "Schindler's List" is a film I am anticipating to see again and it showed images probably more-so horrific than this. "Johnny Mad Dog" is a thought-provoking piece and it was effective in the way that they used first-time actors, but it wasn't for me.

If you're looking for a political view point on child soldiers and ongoing conflicts in Africa this isn't the film you're looking for.This is a human film with human nuances. For some it will appear as a senseless violent romp.I saw children losing their innocence through situations they had no control over. Forced to shoot family members to save their lives initiated them into the unit. With persistent brain washing and promises of magic charms to protect them and a financial future they did their duty as they were taught. They were the true believers of the cause and embarked upon a barbaric journey wrestling with guilt and childish thoughts.Mad Dog betrayed by his superiors and his naive of the view future shattered tried to deny and justify his past actions in the refugee camp. His clumsy attempt at trying to woo the girl failed, essentially causing the caring angel to violence and the final loss of her innocence.

the other reviewer bellow sums everything up pretty much as i would do overall. i just have to add that i like this much more then "city of God" mostly because there is no over-the-top acting here and this is much more expressive from a realistic point of view. also the 2 or 3 war scenes are also very raw with realistic common sense military tactics.but the strength of this movie comes from its subject matter and from ALL the actors. watching this one realizes that there is no need for drama classes to become an "actor" if you were able to "play" the designed "role" beforehand...hands down to ALL the actors here(both girls and boys). the dramatization and the conclusion also stands out as well as all those little details abundant in many scenes.the dialogues are very raw and used in good realistic measure.one warning to the viewer: the language spoken is an English African dialect, so you might have a need for a subtitled version. subtitles are already available for it on the net.