I was taking notes and starting to write this review while I was watching the movie (which is "Traitor") so I had a whole long post drafted about how bad this movie was and all of the problems I saw with it (factually) and how as a vision of the "war on terrorism" it was a farce. I was truly disappointed with the film to that point and not psyched to finish it. Then about half-way through the movie they added another layer and I for a brief moment I had to stop writing and start watching.
... and then it got ideological again. Then with 30 minutes left a couple of great twists and I thought this movie was going to be salvaged.
... and then it wasn't. When the climax comes and action happens rapidly the predictable happens. Yuck.
"Traitor" is about terrorists, terrorism, and the U.S. efforts to fight them. It is from 2008, so it is done in the shadow of the Bush presidency where that stuff is taken ultra-seriously. In fact all of the depictions of everything are extreme and ideological.
The story: Don Cheadle plays Samir, a devout Sudanese Muslim who is into shady business but gets mixed up with terrorists. He goes to prison in Yemen and gets then breaks out with them only to travel and assist their operations. At the same time two FBI agents (Guy Pearce and Neal McDonough- from Band of Brothers) are trying to stop an impending massive attack in the U.S.
I kind of have to save everything for the spoiler section because it is a thriller with twists and turns, but the whole thing is best characterized as "far-fetched."
One thing that's not a spoiler is the role of the two FBI agents who are chasing Samir. That they are FBI agents is odd because it is a domestic law enforcement agency and they track him abroad waaaay before he gets involved with the terrorists. Not only that but the FBI is doing international counter-terrorism analysis and coordinating with international agencies to prevent attacks abroad under the guise of preventing an attack in the U.S. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure those two things do not happen or do not happen to the extent that they do in this movie. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this.
So, all in all this movie is pulp and should not be ingested by anyone who has a formal or sophisticated understanding of terrorism.
There is a saving grace of this movie in that the majority of the people who watch it will not have that sophisticated understanding and may have their perceptions changed. Ugh, that's kind of disheartening in itself.
(Warning: spoilers below... but don't see this movie.)
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Spoiler Section-
Don't these agencies (CIA, FBI, DHS) coordinate? Does the CIA operate on US soil like Samir was doing? The FBI agents make direct connections with scant evidence and carry on with a narrow-minded views of things. I am not of the opinion that the FBI is perfect, but I am of the opinion that they are smart and have a nuanced view of people. The whole thing seems farcical and only a step up from 24 (admittedly I only saw one season of 24 and it was apparently, it wasn't not one of the "good ones").
Half-way through, the movie becomes a bad CIA-FBI thriller. When Jeff Daniels dies I thought the movie had the potential to be a lot better. They could have played up the fact that Samir was basically operating without authority and had to decide whether to cover his ass or protect America. That angst never came across.
When Omar (played by Said Taghmaoui of Lost- recently- and some other stuff) and Samir have their showdown I wanted to vomit. Its just dumb. I'm tired and need to stop writing. But seriously, don't see the movie.
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