Traitor
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Neal McDonough Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff Brand: Fox DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: French (Unknown); English (Original Language) Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 100 minutes Published: 2008-12-01 DVD Release Date: 2008-12-16 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Anchor Bay - ITN Product features:
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Movie Reviews of Traitor
Movie Review: It Betrayed My Time
Summary: 1 Stars
Remember when Steve Martin used to be funny? Yeah, it seems so long ago. Nowadays he's expanding his horizons, going into more dramatic territory, but I'd never pen him to write a story about terrorism and double-agents. Unfortunately, when Neal McDonough appears within the first five minutes of the film, I could tell this was going to be less than fun/good/watchable.
Neal is awful as always, Don is understated, but good, Jeff is in the film for all of two minutes, and Guy Pierce (not Ritchie), actually gives the best performance of the film, which isn't saying much. However, it might not be the fault of these actors, but instead their terrible characters. The movie gives no reason to like 99% of the characters, and when stuff happens to them, you're more like, 'Oh well, when is this going to be over?'
But mainly, the main problem this movie suffers from is lack of a cohesive point. Is it entertaining? Not unless you find a fictional view into the life of terrorism entertaining. Does it make you think? What's there to think about? If it's about conflicts between Islam, the merits of terrorism and stuff like that, then I frankly don't give a crap. Is it a political movie? It certainly has enough politics to turn anybody off, and a general sense of uneasiness not seen outside most horror films. And it certainly isn't a thriller, so what is it? A Jason Bourne knockoff? Hardly. While Don Cheadle's character is touted as being this great soldier, only one brief instance of this is shown. The rest of the time he gets the crap kicked out of him. I care about the character even less, as he can't even fight.
It would have been much more watchable if it had better direction and editing. First off, the first thirty minutes of the film has Don Cheadle undercover in a Yemen prison full of terrorists. Complete bore, and useless. Easily could have been cut to 5-10 minutes. Hour's gone by, nothing of real note has happened. Easily could be 20-30 minutes at this point. The point is, this movie should have been no more than an hour and a half. Then there's the direction, which is expected considering the only major credit the guy had before this was writing the global warming disastor movie, "The Day After Tommarow," which spell trouble right there. For example, there's an important scene on a bus, which done properly, would have been a great ironic moment, somewhat changing my negative opinion of the movie. As is, the scene is a confusing mess where you can't tell what the heck is going on.
In summation, it's a thriller that doesn't thrill, a drama that isn't that dramatic, and a movie that wants you to think, but isn't worth thinking about. What movie these positive reviewers were watching, I don't know, but this movie suffers from bad direction and lack of a basic point. However, even with multiple trips to the editing room, and better direction, it's still a 3.5 effort at best with its drab subject matter. This movie was a traitor of my time. Don't let it betray yours.