Rendition
by Gavin Hood
List Price:
Our Price: $14.98
You Save: $5.00 (25%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $1.77 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aramis Knight, Jake Gyllenhaal, Omar Metwally, Reese Witherspoon, Rosie Malek-YonanDirector: Gavin Hood
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 122 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of Rendition
Movie Review: "The Fight Over 'Rendition'...Has to Be Water-tight!"
Summary: 3 Stars
You have to go out on a limb reviewing `Rendition'. It makes political points, but it asks relevant questions. Liberals, undoubtedly, will enjoy the import of the film which takes issue with tortured suspects interrogated in foreign lands. Conservatives will take issue with some of the tactics and hand wringing that goes into these procedures, yet it must be stated there are some balances within the film. The most relevant questions have to do with plausibility. Is this a believable and watchable viewing experience? It is, but with some reservations.
The film brings us to three major fronts. In Chicago, Egyptian born Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) has called home, informing his wife Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) when to pick him up from the air port. He is returning from South Africa on a business trip as a chemical consultant. Meanwhile, in an unnamed country in Northern Africa, a terrorist bombs a caf? where artist Khalid El-Emir (Moa Khouas) is meeting with his girlfriend, Fatima. Her father is at that caf?, but so are C.I.A. operatives Dixon (operative head) and his young sidekick, Douglas (Jake Gyllenhaal). During the bomb blast Dixon is killed in their car as a dazed and bloodstained Douglas gets to safety and is appointed temporary head of the operation.
In Washington D.C. Anwar makes his last connecting flight home, when he is suddenly detained, hand-cuffed, and interrogated by Lee Mayer (J.K. Simmons). Even more tough minded is official Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep) who ensures Anwar remains extradited in Egypt where he's subject to the kind of torture and coercion not allowed on our own borders. His ordeal is grueling to watch, but the scenes of water boarding, electrical torture, and solitary confinement make an emotional appeal to the audience. Expecting soon, Isabella at least has some of her burden removed by an advocate at our nation's capital. A high aide to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) knows Isabella and Anwar and makes an appeal, trying to investigate his strange disappearance. He becomes impotent when confronting a tight lipped Whitman and Hawkins who doesn't want to appear soft on terror.
The weakest link of the movie is not the mistaken identity scenario, which is truly believable, but the method used. Apparently cell phone records were contacted, and officials tell that "maybe" Anwar has a record linking him to the terrorist attack. Of course he does make some calls to relatives, but as traceable as evidence gets, the connection is a little far-fetched.
Despite all the characters presented, 'Rendition' is fairly simple to follow. Don't expect it to be as taxing or confusing as 'Syriana (Full Screen Edition)' or 'Babel'. While the film asks unsettling and controversial questions, it doesn't provide the tension or execution of movies like `The Kite Runner' or `A Mighty Heart'. (The latter film was about the beheading of `Wall Street Journal' reporter Daniel Pearl and may satisfy some who may be skeptical about the ability of Hollywood to balance it's views on terrorism.) Here Corrine Whitman is a stalwart, but with a steely voice she does point out to Alan that their operation saved thousands of lives in the U.K.
Is this film "fair and balanced"? To a point, but it does raise real issues with a treatment that's well acted, decently scripted, and mostly provides a good, plausible movie experience.
Summary of Rendition
Reese Witherspoon Jake Gyllenhaal and Meryl Streep star in this nail- biting thriller about a man who mysteriously disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington DC and the government conspiracy put in place to cover it up.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/MILITARY & WAR UPC: 794043112928 Manufacturer No: 1000036230Roger Ebert called it "perfect," and certainly the timing couldn't have been much better: Rendition was released just as the U.S. was debating anew the issue of "extraordinary rendition," a policy (begun under the Clinton administration, accelerated after September 11, 2001) of handing over suspected terrorists to countries that use torture as an interrogation tool. Alas, the movie only rarely fills in the outlines of a prototypical "issue movie," the kind of thing peopled by cardboard characters tracing the patterns of an important, indeed urgent, subject. The plot kicks into gear when an Egyptian-born man (Omar Metwally) is sent to an unnamed North African country where torture is practiced, with the CIA in approval. The film takes a Crash dive through how this affects various people: his pregnant American wife (Reese Witherspoon), the reluctant CIA agent (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the scene, a severe interrogator (Yigal Naor), all the way up to a U.S. terrorism honcho (Meryl Streep) willing to turn a blind eye to the unpleasantness if it stops a terrorist attack. Things spark briefly when Witherspoon enlists an old beau (Peter Sarsgaard) to plead her case with his boss, a U.S. Senator (Alan Arkin), but for the most part director Gavin Hood (Totsi) can't find a way to color in these line drawings, despite the formidable actors doing spirited work. The issue is fully and lucidly explained, but the movie doesn't come alive. --Robert Horton
Drama DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in My Favorite Movies of 2007
The Condemned (Widescreen Edition)LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2007-09-18; DVD
Best price: $3.19
Price in other shops:
The Comebacks (Unrated Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-01-29; DVD
Best price: $3.81
Price in other shops:
Mr. BrooksRelease date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops:
Fracture (Widescreen Edition)HOPKINS,ANTHONY; Release date: 2007-08-14; DVD
Best price: $5.85
Price in other shops:
Ocean's Thirteen (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVD
Best price: $5.76
Price in other shops:
Shoot 'Em UpWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-01-01; DVD
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Shooter (Widescreen Edition)PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2007-06-26; DVD
Best price: $8.60
Price in other shops:
The Kingdom (Widescreen Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2007-12-26; DVD
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Good Luck Chuck (Unrated Widescreen Edition)COOK,DANE; Release date: 2008-01-15; DVD
Best price: $11.64
Price in other shops:
The Heartbreak Kid (Widescreen Edition)PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2007-12-26; DVD
Best price: $5.88
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Gone Baby GoneBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
Charlie Wilson's War (Full Screen)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2007-12-23; DVD
Best price: $10.86
Price in other shops:
Atonement (Widescreen Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $8.24
Price in other shops:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordPITT,BRAD; Release date: 2008-02-05; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
We Own the NightSony; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $6.53
Price in other shops:
The Brave One (Full-Screen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-05; DVD
Best price: $9.88
Price in other shops:
In the Valley of ElahWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $8.58
Price in other shops:
Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops: