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!

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

Sometimes good is bad and bad is good. Or put more simply: everything is just a shade of grey. What kind of shade just depends on the viewer, the perspective. Steve Martin (yes, the comedian Steve Martin) co-wrote a solid modern day spy saga that is fortunately neither black nor white. The only thing this movie lacks is emotion. By trying too hard to get the message across, director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has lost eye on the need for viewers to be able to identify with the characters and has thus made it harder to empathize with persons and causes. You will, but only in the second half of the movie. Still, the storyline is solid. And the acting is more than that. Don Cheadle is (again) magnificent and so is Saïd Taghmaoui. This is not an action movie, but a thinking man's movie. And a good one too.

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

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!!!