Review of Secret in Their Eyes (2015) by Andrew J — 21 Oct 2016

In 2002, the daughter of a member of the Los Angeles DA Counter-Terrorism team is murdered in a building adjacent to one believed to house a terrorist group. The chief suspect turns out to be an informer within the terrorist group. As he is valuable to the authorities in their attempts to prevent a terrorist attack, they are unable to touch him, and he goes free. Now, 13 years later, the FBI agent on the team believes he has tracked down the killer, and intends to settle the score.

A remake of the 2009 Spanish movie "The Secret in Their Eyes" (original title: "El secreto de sus ojos"). That movie was very good - gritty andintriguing.

This 2015 Hollywood remake thus has a lot going for it - it is adapted from that Spanish movie and has an all-star cast. Pity that in practice it is a damp squib.

Secret in Their Eyes has none of the intrigue of the original. It is pretty flat, almost from the get-go. Even when the twist arrives you feel "so what?".

Quite unengaging too. The sentimentality feels superficial, the characters one-dimensional and the relationships contrived.

All-star cast (Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina, Michael Kelly) all seem subdued in their roles, as if director Billy Ray was figuring less-is-more in terms of creating intrigue. Clearly it didn't work.

Watch the original instead.