A decent political action-thriller being tossed away during what is usually the least prestigious movie period of the calendar year, “Traitor” betrays its fallow late-August release date to offer a little more than you might expect.
Yes, its big twist is predictable. The script cops out with a wishy-washy worldview. And, the suspense impact is forgotten before you even get back to your car.
But today’s frequently exciting, current events fluff gets anchored well by two reliably intense journeymen, veterans Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce. They play a twisting game of cat-and-mouse in the arena of international terrorism — though they may or may not actually be on the same side.
The director-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff previously penned another politically-correct popcorn movie based in real issues, the global warming disaster picture, 2004’s “The Day After Tomorrow.” In “Traitor” as in that picture, he tries to raise some progressive ideas in a palatable package.
This time, Nachmanoff attempts to present Middle East extremists as whole human beings, looking at the conflict from their perspective too — while correlating the brutal tactics and hypocrisy that allegedly exist on both sides. He makes likable American star, and the movie’s protagonist, Cheadle into a possible Islamist sympathizer — but not enough to jeopardize the fat box office potential of the American market.
(Joe Six-Pack might not buy tickets if the hero related to the feelings of frustrated Third World fundamentalists too well.)
Chedle’s character, Samir Horn is a mysterious, Muslim weapons expert trained in the U.S military who strikes up an awfully tight relationship with a key jihadist coordinator named Omar (Said Taghmaoui). As events unfold from a Yemeni prison to England, Canada, and finally to the U.S., Samir finds himself at the center of an elaborate terrorist plot to unfold here. At the same time, the good cop/bad cop duo of FBI agents (Pearce and Neal McDonough) remains hot on Samir’s trail.
Jeff Daniels also stars in a subplot stolen straight out of “The Departed.”
Luckily, with good casting and a few heart-stopping episodes of violent cloak-and-dagger, Nachmanoff’s direction trumps his middling screenplay. And given your limited options right now, you could do much worse at the multiplex than a Labor Day weekend run-in with the “Traitor.”
(Quick info: 3 out of 5 Stars; Stars — Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Said Taghmaoui; Director — Jeffrey Nachmanoff; Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language; Running Time — 112 minutes)
