Review of The Debt (2010) by Henrik S — 15 Feb 2014

A pretty solid spy-thriller that focuses much more on the psychological drama unfolding atwixt the parties involved than the actual "caper". In my opinion, the film hinges on two key factors that underperform and therefore prevent this one to be more than just a hint above average. First of all, the seemingly "enigmatic" nazi villain is played to the point but without verve and esprit by Christensen. Of course, one could argue that a nazi villain should never be portrayed as flashy or fascinating for that matter, but then again, the whole paradoxon of the mythological force behind the nazis and their haunting legacy is downplayed by Christensen's performance, as he has much more of regular asshole than insane scientist about him. Hence, the scenes featuring the bad guy are never as toxic as the film is trying to make them out to be.

Furthermore, the film features one quite big twist that will actually rattle you awake while you might have been following the ongoings with semi-interest before. Yet, the twist is resolved quicker than one might wish for and the rest is a non-showy, effective yet not very tense climax that whitewashes the whole issues of guilt, responsibility and history that have been raised throughout the film.

The performances are solid, Chastain and Csokas fill their shoes, while Worthington is too wooden to be believable and come across as an authentic man set out for vengeance for war atrocities, he just lacks the depth of character. The older guard, Mirren, Wilkinson and Hinds have good screen presence, but most of their scenes are limited to pondering the past, where the actual "action" is happening - apart from the ending maybe, which finally puts Mirren into the spotlight, as she should be in every movie she is involved with.

As far as direction and cinematography is concerned, this is standard fare, with lots of long takes on tears rolling down cheeks, not utilising the "angst" of the FDR-era, which would have been a stroke of genius, mirroring the atmosphere of terror the prevailed in the nazi era by drawing parallels to the communist regime ... did not happen though, shame.

All in all, a slightly better than average "thriller", even though it is more about pondering guilt and responsibilty than the actual thrill.