Trahison

I was offered a ticket to a screener last Wednesday, and when I heard Don Cheatle was in it, couldn't pass it by. I am not a huge fan of action/suspense/spy movies, but this one was a cut above the normal. It was more intelligent, and delved a bit into motivations, beliefs, etc. of terrorists. I went into the movie cold, with no idea of the plot, and I recommend that. Most write ups I have read give away too much of the twists in the plot, which I was glad I didn't know beforehand. Don Cheatle was excellent, and so was Saïd Taghmaoui. It was also refreshing to see Hollywood recognizing the breadth of Muslim philosophy for once!

Thrilling and exciting movie about terrorism , spies and geopolitical issues . A firm believer in the Holy Quran, Samir Horn ( Don Cheadle ), American citizen and former soldier in Afghanistan, lives a middle-classed lifestyle along with his love interest , Chandra Dawkin (Archie Panjabi). He is actively involved in selling explosives to Jihadis. However he is trapped and meantime in a Yemeni prison, Samir is hit , and another inmate, Omar ( Said ), comes to his support . Both men become close friends, subsequently getaway from prison, re-locate to Marsielle, executing a massacre , and elude authorities for some time . Later on they re-enter the U.S., meet with other important terrorists , and together they scheme to place bombs in 50 Greyhound buses ,one for each State. Using internet and mail they recruit 50 volunteers to carry out this gruesome aim . Meanwhile, the super-powerful CIA uses technological-gizmo-surveillance satellites , super-computers for people spying and hound terrorists relentlessly. The CIA agents ( Guy Pearce , Neal McDonough ) scheme a plot to chase the mastermind terrorist . They form a shaky alliance with Carter ( Jeff Daniels ),the boss of Intelligence to break the terrorist ring whose objective is the bombing civilian targets . They try to stop cruel group who plans terrorist bombings by means an uncanny masquerade .

Story's core is interesting and script is dense with information and drama . The ultra-brisk editing and rapid scenes movement leaves little time to consider some inadequacies. The picture takes parts from ¨ The Siege¨ (98, by Edward Zwick with Denzel Washington,Tony Shalhoub) about the dangerous terrorism Arab in US ; ¨ Spy game ¨(2001, by Tony Scott with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford ) concerning the spy-world and ¨Body of lies ¨ (2008 by Ridly Scott with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe ) about sophisticated methods of the international terrorism . Don Cheadle , also producer , is the main attraction , he sustains interest in this tale of treason and terrorism . Guy Pearce and Neal McDonough are good as intelligent super-agents and Jeff Daniels's cool displaying a brief performance. The use of interesting messages to add weight to a romantic subplot between the terrorist and the Arab woman , though feels a little forced . The film packs adequate,evocative cinematography by Michael Muro and agreeable musical score by Mark Kilian with Arabs overtones. The motion picture is well written and realized by Jeffrey Nachmanoff . Rating : Above average, well worth watching.

When I first saw the previews, I was expecting a bourne supremacy/bond film with whoooohoooooo action that makes you say "kill, kill, kill" and gets you all worked up. But this film is more drama/realistic and made me actually think about life instead of tuning it out. The action parts are very satisfying. Don Cheadle was great. If you are expecting something along the lines of The Marine, you will probably be disappointed. It is a little more mature than that. The movie surprised me in its creativity/originality with certain scenes. overall, it is a drama/thriller/action/spy that I found very satisfying. some people on IMDb were complaining that it was slow, which it was, but don't take that to mean that the film is bad. the movie is just more of a drama film than action at times. Go see it!!!

This was an excellent movie, a very intriguing and topical story involving terrorism with the basic message that there are good and bad people everywhere, of all races, religions, sects, whatever. The question in this film, for at least half of the movie, is: "Is Samir (Don Cheadle) a good guy or a bad guy?"

I don't want to say too much in fear of spoiling anything because that could easily be done while discussing this film. Suffice to say that this will keep your interest for the full running time and is a thinking person's movie more than most.

Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, Said Taghmaoui and Alyy Kahn are all fantastic in the lead roles. The direction and photography also is top-notch. Those who pick apart this movie are nit-picking because it's a very entertaining film while not overdoing the action or the stereotypical characters.

One thing that's odd about this film: it has very strong statements which will please both liberals and conservatives, both devoutly religious folks and atheists. It pretty much covers the field.

i was lucky enough to be part of the "first audience" to catch this at a pre-screening, and i have to say that i really enjoyed this film. i don't know anything else i could really say. it was suspenseful, had great twists, the acting was superb, and was a great story. Don Cheatle was amazing as ever, but i don't want to give away any spoilers at all so i wont say anything about the characters. what i will say is that Jeff Daniels for sure needed more character development. of course Guy Pierce was great, and what came as a semi-surprise was Saïd Taghmaoui's performance. very well-done by the cast and if Steve Martin is really the man who came up with the idea, he needs to keep churning 'em out. Traitor was a fit name for the film, and i would recommend it to all of you reading this.

9 1/2 out of 10