Review of Beirut (2018) by Heatherm — 03 May 2018

I really wanted to like this movie for the sake of Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pyke, but I just couldn't do it. The most exciting scene is the first 10 minutes, and it is all downhill from there. The plot is garbled and boring, and it has nothing more to offer than the average movie about low-key espionage in the middle east--an outsider swoops in with limited experience, has a few drinks, and manages to solve unsolvable problems in a way that isn't at all believable. The script felt like a disappointing waste of the lead actors' talents.

The best thing about the movie, to me, was the absolutely beautiful and desolate shots of the city and people's lives there. The more interesting stories seemed to be at the edges--what were the people who stayed there doing?--rather than the center of the film's focus.