Good thriller from the master, John Le Carre, with some very interesting visuals by the director, Susanna White.
The story concerns a young couple (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris) who meet a Russian, Dima (Stellan Skarsgard). It turns out that Dima wants something delivered to British intelligence, which the naive McGregor does. Dima is involved with the Russian mafia and he has information that will bring down corrupt politicians in London. When the couple delivers the flash drive to Hector (Damien Lewis) in British Intelligence, they find themselves embroiled in a dangerous situation.
Some real revelations here for me anyway - first of all, I've never heard Damien Lewis speak with his native British accent; second, I've never before considered Stellan Skarsgard as having any sex appeal. His portrayal of the loud, friendly, charismatic Dima is fantastic. With people like Lewis and Skarsgard in the cast, you know the acting will be top level, and it is. McGregor and Harris hold their own, as good people who can't walk away from Dima and his family.
Very good.
Our Kind of Traitor
2016
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
Our Kind of Traitor
2016
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
Plot summary
When Perry and his wife, Gail, cross paths with the charismatic Dima on their Moroccan holiday, the forceful Russian is quick to challenge Perry to a friendly game of tennis. But this innocuous contest is not all it seems - Dima is a long-time servant of the Russian mafia, whose new boss, 'The Prince', wants him and his family dead. His only hope is to ask the unsuspecting Perry to broker him sanctuary with the British intelligence services, in return for exposing a vein of corruption that runs right to the heart of the City of London. Soon they find themselves on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps and, with the might of the Russian mafia closing in, begin to realize this particular match has the highest stakes of all.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
John LeCarre - hard to go wrong
Too much of a genre story
Our Kind of Traitor is a solid but dull film with a lot of foreign location shooting but it is also rather predictable.
I understand that some of the people who worked on the BBC television series The Night Manager also worked in this film. Whereas the long form television series managed to maintain its tension and had several well staged set pieces throughout its running length. This was lackluster.
Perry (Ewan McGregor) a lecturer and his wife Gail (Naomie Harris) a lawyer are on holiday in Marrakesh. Perry is invited to party with Dima (Stellan Skarsgård) a brash Russian who is really a financier for a Russian mobster.
Dima asks for Perry's help to save his family by becoming a MI6 informant as he has information on British financiers and politicians who have laundered money for the Russian underworld. Perry needs to contact a sympathetic MI6 agent.
It is well acted especially by Skarsgård but it all feels rather restraint.
Unwilling willing
Sometimes you get into a situation without really doing anything. And then you have to ask yourself where to go from there. Something like this happens to Ewan McGregors character. Someone with a past, but also someone with morals. And someone who seems to be struggling with his life, so he may be welcoming whatever gets thrown at him.
This is based on a novel which I haven't read, so I can't compare those two. I can tell you that the movie is more than suspenseful enough and it seems very much rooted in reality (of course heightened at certain points of the story). There are many obstacles and you may see a lot of things coming before they happen, but the movie is played very well and is more than decent enough to enjoy