Review of A Most Wanted Man (2014) by Matthew C — 07 Aug 2015

Not a bad movie. Awesome cast! Could use more suspense.

In one of his last roles, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays himself...with a German accent. That's not to say he does a bad job here, but all of his Hoffman-isms (chain-smoking, coffee-guzzling, grumpy, frowny, crooked-walking, sarcastic guy) really stand out in an otherwise understated performance. I would've appreciated more nuance. Rachel McAdams and her character don't even fair quite that well. The role needs to be fleshed out more in terms of motivation, and her German accent is simply bollocks.

All in all, this is an interesting story that tells a counter-terrorism, spy narrative from a slightly different angle than usual. Not only do we see the complicated politics of international intelligence in a more realistic way than we're used to, we also see these forces forgoing globetrotting and spy gadgets in favor a more psychological approach -- intensive, mental manipulation of assets. Cliche and predictability are, however, problems here. The movie is decently directed in terms of atmosphere and pacing, but there are so many tropes of the thriller genre present that even this unusual beast ends up cluing the audience in on its intentions at least two scenes in advance. There's just not enough here to set this film apart from others in this genre.

Side note: I really liked Willem Dafoe and Robin Wright here. I wish they would do more work like this.