Review of A Most Wanted Man (2014) by Jeff B — 31 Jan 2016

Most definitely Wanted and desired despite a pitch black view of the world, the latest powerfully acted John Le Carre adaptation proves to be a clench fisted thriller with a gutpunch finale. Le Carre's storied works personify both British spy craft and Britishness itself. Basically, his books feature emotionless players moving precariously across a chess board that's actually a minefield. Granted, much of his plotting involves clerical work, but there's still a simmering intensity. Even when his characters find themselves in a highly emotional situation, they hide that lit fuse behind a steely veneer. Their mental state belies a veritable powder keg, which mirrors the stakes of their mission. The best Le Carre adaps exemplify this quality and Most Wanted Man ranks in this rarefied league along with The Constant Gardener and the most recent itineration of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In long takes with an almost colorless photography, Corbijn tracks the back room long con of trapping a terrorist financier with patience and restraint, letting powerhouse understated acting convey the deadly stakes.

In this R-rated spy thriller from Anton Corbijn (The American), a Chechen Muslim (Grigoriy Dobrygin) illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.

It's cliche to lionize a recently departed actor's actor, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman always astounded and heads a wonderfully precise ensemble here. He might keep his feelings close to his chest but we feel the menace and dread of this spymaster playing an impossible game in a burning house of cards. Bleak and brilliant, Corbijn's atmospheric canvas perhaps remains the standout character. Pop culture spies were never more in fashion than the '60s and this modern Eastern Europe-set thriller somehow feels like a retrograde tale, as if the Spectre of Communist East Germany still colors inside and outside of these geopolitical lines.

Bottom line: Tinker Tailor Soldier On.