A Most Wanted Man

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Because it's le Carré, many have drawn parallels with Tinker Tailor, but the latter is a far superior story. The titular character is no character at all and his story is pretty much a dead end. He is a Chechen who arrives in Hamburg illegally and covertly. He has been to hell and back and as you would expect he bears both the emotional and physical scars of his past, which he relates small snippets of. However, none of this has much impact on the story. His purpose in Hamburg is to claim the €10M his late father left at a bank there. His father is of dubious character and so he then suddenly decides he wants no part in the money after all. We then turn our attention to the money being offered to a known terrorist financier (unwittingly by the Chechen) so that the German Secret Service can use this to lead them to the highest echelons of the organisation and their other financiers and money launderers. This is the problem. By focusing on this part of the story we are simply left with a clichéd dick measuring contest between Gunther (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who will do it the smart way and take down the whole syndicate and a rival department who just wants to take out the Chechen and go for short-term glory. At this stage I should mention I had a pee break half an hour in, so may have missed something crucial, but this is what troubled me: Gunther is screwed over by the rival department and by an American Spook, played by Robin Wright. We know why the rival would, but why would she do this? Nothing is explained about this or the story behind what the €10M was originally for. Also, given the relevance of the subject material in today's news, there is a surprising lack of exploration of the political context. Compare this to Tinker Tailor, where dubious actions and motives were very clearly established and yet skilfully revealed and where there was a memorable bad guy. A Most Wanted Man falls way short in this comparison. Although a period piece, Tinker Tailor feels more relevant to current affairs than this film. The Acting is excellent as is the Direction, even the Writing isn't at all bad, but the story itself may leave you underwhelmed.

This film can best be summed up as the sound of cigarettes burning, ice and whiskey clinking around in tumblers and Phillip Seymor Hoffman breathing laboriously. Now, I love a quiet and gritty film but these sounds of the mundane become more significant than the plot. Critics want to love this film due to Hoffman's unfortunate passing but it lacks expression. The climax is weak. Again, it relies on the textures and sounds of the mundane to create tension and suspense. And this film doesn't end, it just stops. It only inspired conversations of 100 ways to make it better. I'm sure that many will imply that people who do not favor this film are simply not sophisticated enough to understand its subtle complexity but in truth, this is just a boring movie that fails to deliver any thrills.

Yesterday I saw this movie and I just had to write something about it. Why? Because this is the most boring movie (by far) I have ever seen. Another example of why Dutch directors should never make movies. It's not only boring, but it's full of plot-holes, bad acting and lack of character building/ background etc etc. Mr. Corbijn should really stick to making photo's and video clips, make short films. It's a pity that the last movie PSH made, had to be this one... I really don't understand why other people rate this movie higher than with one star. It's suppose to be a thriller, but really nothing happens. Don't waste your time (2 hours!!!) and money on this one, pick another film to watch.