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SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
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SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Ridley Scott's political action thriller revolves around the CIA hunt for a renowned terrorist known as Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul) before he unleashes a series of planned attacks on the Western world. Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the officer on case, and the back and forth he has with his superior officer Ed (Russell Crowe) is the highlight of the show!
While Ferris is considerate, respectful, courteous and basically human, Ed is unethical, manipulative, arrogant and most of all, he doesn't care about people as much. Like aforementioned, the chemistry between the two is what sells the runtime. Every single time Ed runs a side operation that directly jeopardizes Ferris' relationship with Hani Pasha (Mark Strong), the tension is gold! The other aspect that shines here is Ferris' relationship with Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani). It's cute, and his visit to her house for dinner with her nephews signaling him which of their mother's dishes aren't nice is a delight to watch! Performances are adequate, shootouts are interestingly canned, camerawork is amazing and the Netherlands explosion effect is truly great!
The overall picture isn't bad. It definitely has its moments, but the primary issue has got to do with the script's focus. We as the audience understand the main goal, but the subgoals to reach that main goal aren't clear most of the times. We do learn about it once the mission is over, but we need the intel firsthand to root for the operation from the beginning. This, coupled with myriad sub-characters the protagonist meets and the various locations across the globe the protagonist travels to constantly could easily throw you off the loop if you are not paying attention. The only exception to this point would be the hero's idea to create a fake terrorist group as competition that would lead to Al-Saleem reach out to him instead of otherwise. The way this whole plan is executed, from Ferris tricking the innocent architect that leads to his cover being blown before he's captured, tortured and have his fingers crushed with hammer is genuinely intense!