The Veteran (2011 Movie) is a UK product about a troubled British Afghan war veteran who has returned home to face bleak surroundings and dismal prospects for the future. Throw in a healthy serving of anti-terroism espionage along with a smattering of drug-dealing gang thuggery and you have the recipe for 98 minutes of pretty good cinematic entertainment.

Our star, Ex-soldier Bobby Miller, played by Toby Kebbell, is the classic loner anti-hero. He is inwardly scarred by the horrors of war, but his sentiments of right and wrong plus his gritty balls-to-the-wall demeanor make him a very likable character.

There’s nothing shabby about Kebbel’s acting work here and I’d say that his screen prowess propels the film. I loved the grungy and dark stylized cinematography. My only complaint is that the dialogue was often difficult to understand. So much so that I found myself trying to adjust my television’s sound settings to try to improve the intelligibility. Some of the characters do have heavy British accents but I think it has more to do with poor audio engineering than anything else. It’s still English at the end of the day.

The Veteran has respectably earned its R rating most likely due to the un-appologetic use of violence which all culminates when the worlds of the street gangs and government espionage collide during the twisted and shocking ending.

This is a great Netflix find. I recommend it.

About the author

Mango Black is some dude who has for the last 10 years been involved in all sorts of crazy shi+ in the city of LA. Check me out on Instagram: @mangoblack