A movie I wanted to like more than I did, and yet I will absolutely recommend this movie. In a world where a smart, adult thriller can gross a pitiful 3 million dollars on opening weekend and it can’t even get a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, somebody has to be a champion for the underdogs.
What Works: The opening sequence (a terrorist bombing unfolding through layered security camera footage) hooks us and makes us think we’re in for a topical film about surveillance. Unfortunately, we get a more standard film about a trial for a terrorist suspect who’s actually an informant for M:I-5. They feel betrayed by him and want the trial over as fast as possible, but his legal eagles (Eric Bana, and the always-welcome Rebecca Hall) must navigate the tricky terrorism legal procedures to save his life. Some of the movie’s best bits just come from examining how absurd the court system is for terrorist suspects (Bana and Hall aren’t allowed to see each other after she’s given a crucial piece of evidence he’s not allowed to see). The frustration with representing a client when you aren’t allowed to have all the evidence, and how dangerous it could be for you to represent someone like this fuels the plot as much as the actual conspiracy does. It’s a conversation worth having, and the movie does that…
What Doesn’t Work:…In the quietest way possible. I like that the movie tries to be realistic and not go for cheap, easy thrills but it also feels like it never really gets going and is unnecessarily muted. It’s PBS-meets-JAG tone could be misinterpreted as snoozy instead of thoughtful. Plus, we keep hearing about what a bastard Eric Bana’s character is and that feels like forced character building. They’re telling us rather than showing us since he’s never seen doing anything remotely underhanded. In fact, his character would have been more interesting if he did have a more rascally side.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Squeezed every bit of tension out of the scenario with direction that is a little less BBC. And perhaps even altered the fundamentals of the “conspiracy” itself since, as is, it just doesn’t feel shocking enough for us to care about it.