A Most Wanted Man Review

[Westside Steve]

A Most Wanted Man

Lionsgate

R 121 min

 

Sorry for the delay gang much this film was actually officially premiered weeks ago but only to a very limited number of theaters. This week it goes into general release so it should be in a theater near you. When a movie star dies unexpectedly there's always a film or two on the shelf waiting on the proper opening time or in Hollywood limbo.

The star of record here is Philip Seymour Hoffman who, while not a megastar, is most certainly firmly ensconced in the thespian A list.

On top of that the film itself isn't standard fare for Hollywood blockbusters but a subtle tale of intrigue set within the Russian Chechnya in conflict.

Audiences have enamored with European spies for over 50 years when Ian Flemings James Bond took the world by storm and inspired dozens of imitations.

Most of them regardless of nationality seemed to follow the blueprint of the good looking dashing and erudite spy saving the world every episode or in every new novel.

John le Carre has always been a little different. His heroes are hardly dashing nor heroic but seem to be cut from the cloth of the working class. The men and women who deal in the mundane dirty work, the drudgery and unglamorous tasks assigned to real secret agents.

A MOST WANTED MAN is taken from one of his novels and should give you an idea of the style of spy movie you are about to see.

Issa Karpov (Grigoriv Dobrygiv) is the son of a Russian mobster and a Chechen Muslim who has adopted his mother's faith and is now living illegally in Germany.

That in itself is more than enough to arouse the suspicions of German authorities and those suspicions explode when it is discovered that he has a claim to nearly 15 million euros from his father's estate.

Karpov actually wants no part of what he considers dirty money and plans to give it to Muslim charities through a benefactor Dr. Abdullah.

Unfortunately the good doctor is not totally on the up and up and plans to divert at least a portion to a terrorist organization.

On one hand immigration attorney Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) hopes to facilitate Karpovs life in Germany as a free man.

The German authorities are not inclined to be anywhere near so generous.

Between the two extremes is Gunther Bachmann (Hoffman) whose goal is to let the small fish go and order to catch the big fish.

Karpov is actually innocent and Abdullah not that far up the food chain yet the bureaucrats want to act quickly and unfortunately irresponsibly.

This film is well acted, thoughtful and even suspenseful in its own way but let me warn you not to belie the advertisements that describe it as a thriller.

It isn't dull by any means but I’d be hard pressed to describe the action scenes. Of course sabotage and intrigued are interesting too and that's always been le Carre's forte.

B-

 

WSS