A Most Wanted Man (2014)

A Most Wanted Man3 And A Half Out Of 5A Most Wanted Man is a character driven political thriller about a few good-hearted infiltrators whose attempt to pull of an impossible yet utterly glorious task ends up with dilemmas on each step. The stakes aren't higher as one usually gets in such tales, but the inner politics is so well constructed that you cannot not communicate with its designing. The screenplay is so tight and written like a poetry on the sense that it enfolds each time a different perspective, angle, character and a piece of information that somehow sets the clock at zero. And since the feature is build upon the race against time factor, the sense of urgency never fades away even though it ticks for an entire two hours. Corbign's world is busy in all its act (even in its first act, it doesn't spend its time on laying out the plot for the audience) where the viewers has to work hard to catch up with it. It is rich on technical aspects like using its props, amazing camera work, fine editing and sharp sound effects although fails on pitching a palpable background score. Goose fleshing revelations, tricky and convoluted plot and eye-popping cinematography are the high points of the feature that keeps the audience tangled in its world. Bovell's adaptation might be gripping and layered but Corbign's execution surpasses the script and sensibly respects each frame projected on the screen. Hoffman oozes power, vulnerability and emotional aspects of his character unflinchingly with an amazing supporting cast like McAdams, Dafoe Wright, Bruhl and Krieps. A Most Wanted Man is not what we wanted but needed, in an industry where most of the mission were taken over by action and chase scenes, it is inexpressibly refreshing to encounter a chess game.

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.

"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.

From the reviews, I am in the minority. But another reviewer termed it "...a slow burn..." The burn is how every scene shows someone is leaving, going to another place just to leave it. This makes the movie not full of suspense, intrigue, or action oriented but struggling like a grass fire in the dust- bowl States. The camera man does not help by shaking the camera so much during the actual action scenes that the audience can't connect with the movie.Philip is a cigarette spokesman by having a cigarette in his face in almost every scene he is in. I am done with this movie at the scene where Philip announces that he is done with Issa.