8/24/08

Traitor

Here's a big surprise: The best thing about this movie is Don Cheadle. I expect that sometime, he will finally be awarded his much-deserved Oscar; unfortunately, this won't be the time.

This is a post-9/11 world, with radical Muslims plotting against the US, the FBI overstepping its bounds to track terrorists internationally and more traditional Muslims caught between those two worlds.

Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda," "Talk to Me," "Reign Over Me" and the "Ocean's" franchise) plays a deeply religious explosives expert (Yes, you see lots of blowie uppie stuff!) who is working for the radical faction. Guy Pearce ("L.A. Confidential" "Memento," "The Count of Monte Cristo," and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") is the straight-arrow FBI man who, with a CIA sidekick, tracks terrorists all over the world. He can't help but notice that Cheadle's character is usually in the vicinity when a major terrorist operation goes down. Once again, the talented Mr. Pearce has disguised his Australian accent, this time with a mild Texas one.

Other than a completely unexpected plot twist that elicited an audible response from the screening crowd, this film verges on the absurd; too many coincidences; some sadly garbled geography; a preposterous script. For example, Cheadle's brilliant character risks everything to intercept a woman in a park so he can tell her that he can't ever see her again. How clever is THAT?!

Espionage films require close attention. Mine was VERY close because I had so much difficulty making out the dialog. Ah, for Closed Captions...