Review: Traitor (2008)

[Steve Rhodes]

TRAITOR
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  ** 1/2

Set to an ever-present score that is dreamy and melancholy, TRAITOR plods 
along while still somehow managing to keep us engrossed no matter how slow 
the pacing gets.  As a setup episode for a long mini-series, TRAITOR would 
work just fine.  But as a self-contained, full-length motion picture, the 
movie asks too much of the viewer's patience for its minimal dramatic 
payoff.  My son walked out in disgust after an hour of suffering through it, 
since nothing was happening and what was happening was going at a snail's 
pace.

Yet, for all of its problems, the film kept me interested the entire time. 
I'm not exactly sure why I liked it, albeit only modestly.  I can certainly 
think of more things wrong with the film than right with it.

For example, the script asks us to accept numerous illogical moments.  And, 
although it has Muslim bad guys, the movies falls all over itself to 
reassure viewers that Americans are just as evil, citing everything from the 
Ku Klux Klan on to prove it.  "Terrorism is theater, designed to provoke a 
response," one Islamic terrorist explains.  If we take this line of 
reasoning to its logical conclusion, we should never fight back, even after 
horrifying tragedies like 9/11.

My guess is that the strength of the casting is the real reason that the 
movie kept my attention throughout.  Don Cheadle (HOTEL RWANDA) and Guy 
Pearce (MEMENTO) gives some of the best performances, and the ever-reliable 
Jeff Daniels, in a small part, is quite good.

When we meet Samir (Cheadle), he is an arms dealer attempting to sell very 
lethal explosives to an unsavory group of Islamic terrorists led by Omar 
(Said Taghmaoui).  Taghmaoui had a part in the excellent television series 
"Sleeper Cell," which is similar to but infinitely better than TRAITOR.

The sale, which occurs in Yemen, is stopped by a raid led by two FBI agents, 
Roy Clayton (Pearce), who has a Ph.D.  in Arabic Studies, and Max Archer 
(Neal McDonough, "Medical Investigation").  After the two of them 
unsuccessfully play bad cop and good cop in an attempt to break Samir, he is 
sent to a horrific prison reminiscent of the Panamanian hellhole from the 
last season of "Prison Break."

While in prison, Samir is converted from being a bad guy to being a really 
bad guy by Omar.  Once on the outside, the two of them work on a large scale 
project to unleash dozens and dozens of sleeper agents in the U.S.  Once 
activated and armed, these agents are supposed to become suicide bombers, 
causing maximum damage to the American confidence and psyche.  In another 
example of the film's many problems, Samir, an extremely devout Muslim, is 
one of the smartest and most careful guys you've ever met, but, he clumsily 
makes a huge and stupid mistake towards the end of the story.

The film is quite predictable, even if the more naive moviegoers may not be 
able to figure out who the obvious traitor is.  It does, however, have a 
nice ending twist.  The overall conclusion is easy to guess, but how it 
happens exactly isn't.

TRAITOR runs 1:53.  It is rated PG-13 for "intense violent sequences, 
thematic material and brief language" and would be acceptable for kids 
around 11 and up.

The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 29, 2008. 
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century 
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.

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