Director: John Madden
Writers: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, Peter Straughan
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chapstain
Release Date: August 31, 2011
Length: 1 hour 45 minutes
In 1965, three young Israeli Mossad agents are sent on a mission to kill a Nazi war Doctor. Rachel (Jessica Chastain), David (Sam Worthington), and Stefan (Martin Csokas) are put up in an apartment in Berlin, though they have never met each other before. An awkward love triangle forms almost immediately between the three of them. Although David and Rachel are clearly attracted to each other, David distances himself from her as much as possible, as opposed to Stefan who is constantly flirting. 30 years later, Rachel (Helen Mirren) reads at a celebration for her autobiography, where she tells everyone how the team was successful in killing the doctor. The audience now learns that she married Stefan and had a daughter with him. Going back and forth from 1965 to 1995, we discover the assassins might not have been completely truthful in their telling of events. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Debt is a disorganized mix of drama, thriller, action and romance all combined. Although I love Helen Mirren, I doubted I would believe her as a retired Israeli spy. Watching this film, I remembered it’s Helen Mirren. She can play any role perfectly which she did again in this film. Tom Wilkinson (who plays the older Stefan) and Cirian Hinds (the older David) also gave fantastic performances. All three actors were well chosen for this film and I only wish I saw more of them in the movie. The majority of the film took place 30 years earlier in Berlin, with the three younger actors. Sam Worthington, despite the bad accent, was wonderful as David, even though a good portion of his performance consisted of only brooding. Jessica Chastain and Martin Csokas both gave great performances as well. In short, there was nothing wrong with acting in The Debt. The slow, random script however, sometimes bored me and also confused me about what genre this movie was trying to be. Understanding that this film is a remake of an Israeli film that came out in 2007, it seems like the screenwriters just translated the script and added more guns. Action movies are not my favourite genre of films, but I have no problems with them. I do however have problems with action films that have no excitement. My biggest problem with The Debt was that it was supposed to be a film about assassins on a mission to kill a war criminal and I felt no sense of suspense or tension whatsoever. For the first 40 minutes of the film, I was genuinely interested in the story and the characters, but for some reason my intrigue was lost and although I tried, I didn’t care by the end about what was true or what had to happen. I enjoyed the romance between David and Rachael, but eventually the whole script was filled with too many clichés that lessened the film’s originality. Another disappointing film at this year’s festival, you can feel free to miss The Debt.
Writers: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, Peter Straughan
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chapstain
Release Date: August 31, 2011
Length: 1 hour 45 minutes
In 1965, three young Israeli Mossad agents are sent on a mission to kill a Nazi war Doctor. Rachel (Jessica Chastain), David (Sam Worthington), and Stefan (Martin Csokas) are put up in an apartment in Berlin, though they have never met each other before. An awkward love triangle forms almost immediately between the three of them. Although David and Rachel are clearly attracted to each other, David distances himself from her as much as possible, as opposed to Stefan who is constantly flirting. 30 years later, Rachel (Helen Mirren) reads at a celebration for her autobiography, where she tells everyone how the team was successful in killing the doctor. The audience now learns that she married Stefan and had a daughter with him. Going back and forth from 1965 to 1995, we discover the assassins might not have been completely truthful in their telling of events. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Debt is a disorganized mix of drama, thriller, action and romance all combined. Although I love Helen Mirren, I doubted I would believe her as a retired Israeli spy. Watching this film, I remembered it’s Helen Mirren. She can play any role perfectly which she did again in this film. Tom Wilkinson (who plays the older Stefan) and Cirian Hinds (the older David) also gave fantastic performances. All three actors were well chosen for this film and I only wish I saw more of them in the movie. The majority of the film took place 30 years earlier in Berlin, with the three younger actors. Sam Worthington, despite the bad accent, was wonderful as David, even though a good portion of his performance consisted of only brooding. Jessica Chastain and Martin Csokas both gave great performances as well. In short, there was nothing wrong with acting in The Debt. The slow, random script however, sometimes bored me and also confused me about what genre this movie was trying to be. Understanding that this film is a remake of an Israeli film that came out in 2007, it seems like the screenwriters just translated the script and added more guns. Action movies are not my favourite genre of films, but I have no problems with them. I do however have problems with action films that have no excitement. My biggest problem with The Debt was that it was supposed to be a film about assassins on a mission to kill a war criminal and I felt no sense of suspense or tension whatsoever. For the first 40 minutes of the film, I was genuinely interested in the story and the characters, but for some reason my intrigue was lost and although I tried, I didn’t care by the end about what was true or what had to happen. I enjoyed the romance between David and Rachael, but eventually the whole script was filled with too many clichés that lessened the film’s originality. Another disappointing film at this year’s festival, you can feel free to miss The Debt.
No comments:
Post a Comment