Review of A Most Wanted Man (2014) by Panta O — 12 Nov 2014

British espionage-thriller film based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré, directed by Anton Corbijn and written by Andrew Bovell. As usual, regardless the actual accuracy of the events, anything based on books by John le Carré is very popular with the audience. Impressive casting of stars like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Daniel Brühl and Nina Hoss, just adds weight to the seriousness of the project. It is the last of Hoffman's films released before his death. Sadly, far from his best!

The story of Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a refugee from Chechnya, who enters Hamburg, Germany, illegally, was at moments confusing and stretched to unbearable levels! The story develops when Günther Bachmann (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a German espionage agent, leads a team that seeks to develop intelligence from the local Muslim community, and he targets Issa as his link. They track the activities of a local Muslim philanthropist, Dr. Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi), who is believed to be channelling funds to illegal activities, though the team is unable to prove this.

It was smart movie if you can last to the end, because it is little bit too long, but the performances were average with events never clearly explained when the reasons are in question.