Trahison

As a young child living in Yemen "Samir Horn" (Don Cheadle) experiences the death of his father in a car bomb planted by terrorists. Afterward his mother takes him to America where he grows up and eventually joins the army as a demolitions expert. After separating from the army he begins to sell explosive detonators to the highest bidder which eventually leads him to a Muslim terrorist movement in Sudan. Unfortunately, while a meeting is taking place he is arrested and sent to a prison and upon his escape joins a terrorist movement which has use for his skills. At any rate, rather than disclose the rest of the story and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it I will just that that this was a pretty good action film with some drama and suspense thrown in for good measure. I especially liked the performance of Don Cheadle who I thought played the part to near perfection. Above average.

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

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

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.

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!