A Most Wanted Man (2014)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

With LeCarre writing, and the talents of Phillip Seymour Hoffman & Rachel McAdams, we were hoping for a classic spy story. But with northern Germany as the backdrop and the glacial pace of the movie, it's a downer from start to finish. A couple of giant holes in the story also never get closed; i.e., why does Rachel McAdams have a change of heart mid-story? Acting is great; storyline and ending left us lacking.

In Hamburg the security forces, including a secret unit led by Günther Bachmann, suspect that respected Muslim philanthropist Dr Faisal Abdullah is actually channelling money to terrorist causes; the problem is they can't prove anything. Then Chechen refugee Issa Karpov arrives in Germany illegally; Günther's unit becomes aware of him and more importantly that he has links to terrorists in his homeland. Rather than arrest Issa straight away it is decided to see who he makes contact with. As Günther says, 'you use a minnow to catch a barracuda, you use a barracuda to catch a shark'… Issa is definitely considered to be the minnow that might just get Günther the leverage he will need to make Abdullah lead him to a 'shark'. To do this he focuses on Issa's lawyer as she is going to see a banker concerning a large quantity of money that his father, a man he disposed, left him. Günther isn't the only person interested in Issa and Abdullah; other German agencies and the US have them in their sights.Anybody who has watched other adaptations of the works of John le Carré, or read his books, will know not to expect lots of 'James Bond' style action; this is a grittier, more believable, depiction of spycraft. There is a lot of 'waiting and watching', application of pressure and inter-agency politics before the story reaches its surprisingly downbeat conclusion. It could be argued that the film is slow paced but that suited the story and the slowness didn't prevent it from being tense. Philip Seymour Hoffman put is a great performance as Günther Bachmann; it is a tragedy that that this was to be one of his final roles before his untimely death. The rest of the cast impress too; each giving the low-key performances that suits characters who live in the shadows. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to people looking for a modern spy thriller but don't demand lots of action.

"A Most Wanted Man" concerns a group of anti-terrorism agents in Hamburg, Germany, the head man being Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman). A Chechen-Muslim immigrant, Issa (Grigoriy Dobrygin) appears, in terrible shape after torture, and wants to claim his father's tainted fortune and then divest himself of it by signing it over to his father's best friend, banker Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi) so that it is given to charities. Both the German security operation and the U.S. security operation want to know if he's for real or an actual terrorist himself.As part of German Intelligence, Gunther notes Issa's ties to this philanthropist, but Gunther also thinks this man funds terrorists as well as charities.Based on a John LeCarre novel, A Most Wanted Man is both slow and suspenseful, with Hoffman really carrying the film as a tired man who smokes constantly. His whole life is his career. It is a brilliant performance. What a void he has left.Rachel McAdams plays Issa's attorney, Willem Dafoe is a banker, and Gunther's team consists of Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl. This is LeCarre - no flashy James Bond effects, but very intelligent nonetheless. It's a film about winners and losers, and in the terrorist game, there are neither.

(Some spoilers) although the movie does most of the spoiling.This story defies logic. About half way through the movie you ask yourself, "when is something going to happen". Up until that time, the "bad guy" hadn't done anything to warrant being targeted as the bad guy. When the credits start rolling, the bad guy still hasn't done anything bad. A line conspicuously missing from the dialogue - "hey guys, maybe he's not a terrorist"If the goal of the ending was to make the audience feel as betrayed as the main character, it succeeded. I feel for the great actors who found themselves trapped in this horrible script.