THE DEBT [Movie Review] | www.celebritycloseups.com

John Madden is one of those directors that's always been hit or miss with me. I greatly enjoyed Shakespeare In Love and Mrs. Brown, but I was completely underwhelmed by his film version of Proof and his adaptation of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. So, despite the impeccable casting featured in his new drama, The Debt, I was a little skeptical going in. As it turns out, I was right about both the excellence of the cast, and my trepidation in John Madden's ability to sustain my interest in a thriller/suspense film.

The Debt - adapted from the 2007 Israeli film Ha' Hov - tells the story of three young Mossad agents on a secret mission in 1963 to capture a Nazi war criminal (labeled "the Surgeon of Birkenau" and loosely based on Dr. Josef Mengele) in East Berlin and extract him to Israel to be tried for his crimes. It also details what became of them thirty years later as they're all still grappling with the repercussions of that mission and how it changed their lives. The story flips between 1963 and 1997 and takes us into the heart (pun intended) of the love triangle between the agents, as well as the emotional fallout from the personal nature of their mission and being in such close proximity to a man responsible for the death of so many Jews.

Now, I'll be the first to admit it was the cast that lured me in - Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas and Jessica Chastain play the younger Mossad agents, and Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren play the respective agents thirty years later - and an ensemble like that doesn't come along every day. A cast this great deserves the best possible film, a film that pushes boundaries and explores human truths, and is as visceral as it is entertaining. And while there are many things to admire and like about The Debt, it doesn't quite live up to its billing.

It could have been one of the best films of the year - it's beautifully shot, the score (by Thomas Newman) is tense and atmospheric, it features a star-making turn by Marton Csokas (one of the most dynamic, yet underrated actors working today), Sam Worthington uses his stoic vulnerability to great effect, and Helen Mirren is her usual brilliant self. But the story offers no surprises, and is edited and paced in such a way that the suspense - vital to an action thriller - never quite materializes. I also never really bought into several key plot points, which were either entirely too conveniently handled, or stretched credibility in such a way that they threw me out of the film

The Debt is a film worth watching, because it asks hard questions about the nature of evil and the emotional exhaustion that comes with being an undercover agent and the toll it takes on the human psyche. It's just too bad that the film chooses the easy way out in answering them.

Rating:
3 out of 5 stars