Traitor (2008)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Writers (WGA):

Jeffrey Nachmanoff (screenplay)
Steve Martin (story) ...

Release Date:

27 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The truth is complicated.

Plot:

When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Bomb | FBI | Devout | FBI Agent

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Don Cheadle	...	Samir Horn
Guy Pearce	...	Roy Clayton
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Omar
Neal McDonough	...	Max Archer
Alyy Khan	...	Fareed
Archie Panjabi	...	Chandra Dawkin
Raad Rawi	...	Nathir
Hassam Ghancy	...	Bashir
Mozhan Marnò	...	Leyla (as Mozhan Marno)
Adeel Akhtar	...	Hamzi
Jeff Daniels	...	Carter
Lorena Gale	...	Dierdre Horn
Scali Delpeyrat	...	Inspector Gilles
Mehdi Ortelsberg	...	Ali (as Medhi Ortelsberg)
Aizoun Abdelkader	...	Ahmed

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44487) | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Singapore:M18 | Germany:12 | Czech Republic:15 | Norway:15 | Finland:K-13 | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Overture Films

Trivia:

Co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff was eventually asked to direct the film after the original director dropped out.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the FBI agent is talking to Deirdre Horn in the restaurant, a menu sign in the background lists an item as "chicken diner'. It should be "chicken dinner".

Quotes:

Max Archer: [Referring to the bomber captured in Spain] This guy's gotta be in a state of shock. He planned on waking up in Paradise to 72 virgins. Blow yourself up to get laid, this is gotta be some crazy s**t!
Roy Clayton: Where I grew up the Klan burned crosses in front of people's houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.30)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Ayadjidjè

Entertaining but nothing new

Back in my youth it was always the case that movie bad guys were pretty much an uncomplicated bunch. The enemy used to be either Red Indians or The Germans. Then came the IRA (for us Brits ) and the Russians . Sinister foe's who were willing to go that one step further for their cause. Since 9/11 a far more fearful enemy has appeared on the scene. A brain washed enemy that is willing to die in the name of religion - The fundamentalist Muslims . Because of the terrifying prospect of what they have done and what they could do again , Hollywood have jumped on the band wagon and profited from a string of movies about the subject . None of which have been outstanding yet most have been entertaining. Traitor fits perfectly in that bracket .

When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn. A mysterious figure with a web of connections to terrorist organizations, Horn has a knack for emerging on the scene just as a major operation goes down.

The inter-agency task force looking into the case meets with Carter,a veteran CIA contractor who seemingly has his own agenda and Max Archer, fellow FBI agent. The task force links Horn to a prison break in Yemen, a bombing in Nice and a raid in London, but a tangle of contradictory evidence emerges, forcing Clayton to question whether his quarry is a disaffected former military operative--or something far more complicated.

Obsessed with discovering the truth, Clayton tracks Horn across the globe as the elusive ex-soldier burrows deeper and deeper into a world of shadows and intrigue.

I like Don Cheadle. I can forgive him for one of the worst ever English accents in the Ocean's films because despite that he is normally very good at his trade. He was brilliant in Boogie Nights and i loved his performance Reign Over Me. His performance is probably the best thing about Traitor.

Although thoroughly entertaining , this film has nothing new in it to recommend it any more than say - The Kingdom or Body of Lies - and if you have seen either of those films you have seen Traitor.

It's good to see Guy Pearce too . A highly underrated actor who has hardly put a foot wrong since his days in the extremely naff Australian Soap Opera "Neighbours". His best performance to date being the lead in the stunning movie "Momento".

This film reminds me a lot of the US TV series " Sleeper Cell" . Don Cheadle's character is asked to basically do the same thing in this as Darwyn Al-Sayeed does did in that show.

To sum up traitor is 2 hours of fast flowing predictable fair that is hard to criticise but is also difficult heap praise on.

7 out of 10