TRAITORMain Players: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Saïd Taghmaoui, et al.
Calling the shots: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Running time: 114mins
What's it about? Samir Horn (Cheadle) is a Sudan-raised American. He’s just been imprisoned for selling illegal weapons to suspected terrorists. The FBI is curious about him, but when he and a group of terrorists escape and start to plot their next attack, they go into overdrive. But nothing is what it seems…which side is he really on?
What did I think? So soon after ‘Body of Lies’ comes another “anti-terrorism” movie. This one is different, in that we see the set up from both sides of the field, FBI and the terrorists, as we struggle to figure out which side Horn really is on. This absolutely works for the film. From the trailers it is indicated that he is on the FBI side, but as the story unfolds you question that at certain junctures and the intrigue rolls on.
It is masterfully handled by the director, but unfortunate as it is, the pace of the film has been sacrificed for good story telling as the film tends to feel overly long and fairly slow at certain points.
In comes Don Cheadle to save the day really. He’s performance is terrific and everything the film promises to deliver is essentially conveyed through him. Indeed “the truth is complicated” and it’s his performance that keeps us guessing. Guy Pearce is back from oblivion and as good as he is; he is completely overshadowed by Cheadle and to that extent, seemed very much underutilized. Jeff Daniels, more known for his comedic roles, has an important but short lived role that doesn’t even get a chance to flourish.
It’s definitely not the best in it’s genre but it is solid. The intrigue is there and it will keep you interested through out. But it’s slow pace can potentially undo all the hard work. The ending is well handled and staged, and would have had a “wow” effect to it, had it not been for the unintentional laughter it raised in the theatre.
60%
2 comments:
I gotta learn how to write more detailed Movie Reviews on my blog like this one. I wrote a horrible one for Traitor. Guess I don't take the time to really think of my opinion and words.
There's no such thing as a good or bad review. It becomes so depending on whether you agree with it or not. Your review was more about how you "felt" about the movie and not the movie itself. It's all good.
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