Genre – Spy Thriller
Time: 1 Hour 55 minutes
Platform: Theatrical Release
Director: James Hawes
Cast: Rami Malek. Rachel Brosnahan. Laurence Fishburne
The basic story remains the same – the CIA wont do anything to trace the killers of Charlie Heller’s wife and so he blackmails his bosses into sending him into Europe to hunt for the killers.Heller has seen his wife killed on live TV during a hostage crisis. Using facial recognition technology, mobile cell tower pings and AI, he has identified the four perpetrators who killed his wife. The CIA however wont do anything . SO he blackmails his bosses that unless he is given the job of going to Europe and killing the terrorists, he will release many confidential files of CIA Black Ops to the press. The similarity ends there.- I rather like the earlier version’s Cold War setting that made any excursion behind the Iron Curtain a perilous exercise. Here Heller wafts in through various countries easily – no doubt reflecting modern borders but also begs the question that with so many CCTV cameras in all major cities and locations, he isnt identified by the local authorities but by the CIA team that is pursuing him. Hmm –
- Reflecting the main character’s “computer geek” background , there are lots of screens and scrolling data with lots of ASCII characters and stuff scrolling around to give us that ‘geeky’ feeling – which is neither here nor there.
- Some scenes are very well done while others are meh.
- The climatic scene in the original was far better than the ‘meh’ ending here (Sorry for that Spoiler – cant be helped)
- The biggest meh of them all is – sadly – Rami Malek. He doesn’t generate any sympathy/ empathy / shared feelings while we watch him go through the onscreen battles. At least I wasn’t sure whether this is a driven character who I can sympathize with ; Malek seems to be just going through the motions and reading the script.
- The 1981 version is far better . If you can get it somehow, watch it . Its less stylish and more gripping as the hero goes ‘behind’ the Iron Curtain to chase the terrorists who killed his wife and has an incredible gut twisting climax that no one can see coming.
Script – 3 out of 5
Story – 5 out of 5
Direction – 3 out of 5
Performances – 2 out of 5
Total – 3.2 out of 5
Agreed with your review, Rammesh. Nicely summarized.
One reviewer wrote, “there’s no there there” in this film.
In my opinion, Rami Malek is one of those actors who should limit his roles. That signature look of his – puzzled, quizzical, unsure, tentative, hesitant, rarely smiling, awkward facial gestures – gets a bit predictable after a point. With 28 wins and 51 nominations to date (IMDb), he is the finest Egyptian export to the acting world since Omar Sharif.. but needs to be careful in selecting his roles and films. Again, just my opinion.
But, my personal disappointment was the role for Michael Stuhlbarg. Barely recognizable, and barely 10 minutes. The great Stuhlbarg of TV series like ‘Boardwalk’ and more recently, ‘Your Honor’, to name only two, is wasted in this film.
One last question – how does Charlie Heller – yes, he IS a CIA Analyst – but how does he get phone and connections to the most hardened networks just about anywhere in the world – so easily and with no signal drops ?! Not to mention all the tooling needed to carry out his mission. (Sorry to nitpick!)
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