Beirut (2018)

First, yes, the filmmakers could have been more considerate and filmed it in Beirut and hired local actors and crew if they wanted to truly pay homage to the city, but is it that despicable or offensive? Probably not. They might have made up for it by including all the clichés that the Lebanese folks like to hear and see, such as "ski in the morning, go to the beach in the afternoon, and party all night", and the girl in the bikini walking next to a veiled woman. And their over-simplified summation of the very complex nature of the conflicts seems to hold some truth and is probably just enough for the short attention span folk, who could only consume brief over-simplified summation. But overall, the film is only slightly entertaining, the story is ok, nothing deep or moving, average suspense and action, but it's interesting how it's mixed up with the tragic events of the city, although most of them is made up.

This is a solid rental. Excellent cast and writing. Don't believe the haters on this one. It's worth the time and is very well done from start to finish. Is it predictable - yes - especially if you watch as many movies as probably everyone that posts a review on here does. Is it entertaining - absolutely.

Beirut, now this is the way to make a great movie. Action suspense, great actors and extremely good storyline make this one of the best this year. I have been looking for a movie like this that would keep my interest and not bore me with a terrible or worst direction. This movie seems to follow a direction that was easy to follow and keep my interest. I really like it. Hollywood should use this kind of movie as an example of good taste. Jon Hamm and Shea Whigham (He portrayed Elias "Eli" Thompson in the HBO drama series Boardwalk Empire), just to name two were great. I hope they get more movies where they can show their great talent.

State Dept Diplomat and Mid-East Negotiator Mason Skiles (John Hamm) had mentored young Karim with wife Nadia (Leila Bekhti) and learns from Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrinn) that Karim, now 12-yrs old, is the brother of Abu Rajal (Hicham Ourraqa) who is responsible for the murder of Jews at the Munich Olympics. Then Karim is kidnapped. Ten years later Skiles learns that his colleague Cal Riley has been kidnapped and now the adult Karim (Idar Chenbder) wants his brother back from the Israelis and he turns to Skiles to negotiate the transfer of Cal for Abu Rajal. There is so much talking that it is hard to know who are the good guys and who are not. There is a bad guy in here and it is NOT the reason that Cal was kidnapped as he was about to whistle blow on someone. Of course, the Israelis say they don 't have Abu Rajal and Skiles turns to the PLO who say they don't have him either. As long as you follow Skiles and what he is trying to do you can almost not pay too much attention to the rest of the CIA agents and State Department people. They can be a confusing bunch. Notables: Rosamund Pike as Sandy, a State Dept person who eventually lets Skiles run with a plan that may or may not work. Many darkened scenes don't help listening to characters and we are never sure if they are on the up and up. Both John Hamm and Rosamund Pike more or less control this story and the chemistry between them is good. It was fun to watch Skiles use some bargaining chips to both the Israelis and the PLO. (7/10)Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: Not really. Language: Yes. Rating: B