Traitor [DVD] [2009]

Clever, tense and gripping - it's going to be hard to review Traitor without spoiling any of the story for you. But what you get is an engaing story line to acompany your action.

This film is basically an espionage spy thriller. Don Cheadle is excellent in the lead role as Samir, a pious man who's deep undercover. The thing is, just how deep is he? Is he a double agent? Has he been turned by the other side? All is revealed but for a large part of the film you're kept guessing. And you will REALLY be left guessing as events unfold.

He is a bomb maker. An expert mixed up with a group of jihadists. He is tasked with some very important missions and gradually works his way up the chain. The bigger the missions he completes, the more trust is placed in him until he is ordered to carry out a major attack on American soil. All the while, he is being hunted by Guy Pearce - a tenacious FBI agent who's hot on his heels.

The acting is brilliant throughout and the story is very clever, with good twists and turns. It's in depth too, and we get a good feel for the characters involved, who they are, their history and what makes them tick (no bomb pun intended).

The film is truly and international affair in the sense that you're treated to lost of different locations and scenery. From Sudan to Yemen, from Paris to London, to Nova Scotia and Canada. This makes for a very big feel to the film and really ads to it, making each scene fresh and exciting.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film and thought about giving it 5 stars - in the end I went with 4 - but it is excellent. I thoroughly recommend this if you want an film to engage the brain and get involved with. It also offers plenty of thrills, spills and action too. I'd give this film 8.5 out of 10 overall.

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The modern world is pulling at its own stitches -- religious differences, political conflicts, and crisscrossing loyalties. So it's an appropriate time for a movie like "Traitor," a brilliantly acted and morally murky tale that was written (weirdly enough) by Steve Martin, but which is also held back by its twisty narrative and a narrative that sounds better in theory than in practice.

Sudanese Samir Horn (Cheadle) was born in Sudan, but after his father was killed in a terrorist attack he was brought to the United States and eventually became a part of the army -- a specialist who infiltrates terrorist organizations. But it seems his loyalties are no longer to the US army -- he's become entangled in a group of terrorists and imprisoned in Yemen. And, of course, his special skills and knowledge come in quite handy when it comes to terrorist plots.

But something is not quite right in this equation. A pair of FBI agents, Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Max Archer (Neal McDonough), are sent after Samir.... but soon discover that his loyalties are not so easily identified. Just who is he a traitor to? At the same time, a plot is being put into effect that would kill countless people on Thanksgiving Day, and Samir seems to be involved...

"Traitor" is pretty clearly a movie meant to make you very, very uncomfortable, especially since it does some heavy delving into Muslim beliefs, divisions of loyalty, and the corruptions of text and belief that drive fanatical extremists to kill others. It gets too slanted at times -- the Muslim agent is portrayed as far more devout in his faith than the Christian one -- but it's a powerful piece of work, and a sympathetic look at the people torn between their personal beliefs and outside forces.

Director Jeffrey Nachmanoff handles this in a more intelligent manner than your average action thriller, allowing the plot to seep and unfold gradually, and throwing new kinks into the storyline along the way. The violence is genuinely harrowing, and the script is pretty solid. The problem is that the complexity itself turns into confusing knots, and the ending falls rather flat compared to the tense, sleek movie that precedes it. I was left thinking, "... that's it? That's what happens?"

Cheadle is, quite simply, one of Hollywood's most underrated actors -- and he gives a quietly compelling, intensely powerful performance as Samir, able to convey all the division and confusion that his character feels. Pearce is a good if slightly less nuanced counterpart, far more conventional in his thoughts and approaches, but who learns a certain appreciation for Cheadle's character and the knowledge that the truth is not simple or straightforward. Assuming you can find "the truth" at all, rather than someone's personal approach.

"Traitor" leaves you feeling confused but exhilarated, and tackles the near-impossible questions of modern Islam and some of its fanatical followers. An intelligent movie, if a flawed one.

In the post-9/11 climate it is inevitable that film such as this one will be made. Don Cheadle stars as Samir an undercover agent who is caught-up when the terrorist cell he is infiltrating is smashed by over-zealous FBI agents. Samir is subsequently hung out to dry by the FBI who have discovered that his father was a convicted terrorist and become convinced that Samir is following in his father's footsteps. Traitor is a tightly-woven labyrinthine thriller, and Cheadle excels as a man whose motives are shadowy and of whose innocence you can never quite be certain. Guy Pearce is also good as FBI Special agent Roy Clayton, constantly having to restrain his over-eager partner whilst representing America's still unwavering belief in itself and its duty to protect its interests no matter what might be behind them.