Review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) by Chris M — 02 Jan 2014

Less than the sum of its parts. I watched this with absolutely no knowledge of the plot or the original book, and it was pretty entertaining throughout (if perhaps 15 minutes too long). The main plus points are the key performances, especially Riz Ahmed, who is compelling from start to finish. Kiefer Sutherland has a lot of fun as the uber-symbol of Everything That's Hateful About America (or awesome, depending on your point of view), and Liv Schreiber does well as the eyes and ears of the audience.

I was genuinely gripped and wanted to know the truth as the film entered the final act, but then this was dragged out for so long I got frustrated waiting for the finale. The epilogue/coda was pretty trite - I wish the closing speech had never happened - that would have left things much more ambiguously.

Good fun in the moment, it was thought-provoking, but doesn't live long in the memory (and I understand it has played fairly free and loose with some key subplots from the original book)...