One of the great things about going to the movies is the post-mortem discussion where not only do film geeks exchange their own views about what they just saw but they get to dissect everything from the actors to the music to the structure itself. Admittedly, a good percentage of casual moviegoers are happy to just sort of dismiss or recommend a film with one sentence — namely, they either dug it or they didn’t. However, for film buffs it goes several steps beyond that and for critics, often the discussion can get far more intense.
The press screening for Traitor was no exception as a small group of the Phoenix media exited the darkened theatre into the brightly lit lobby in the early afternoon (a time that I think most will agree isn’t the most conducive for the “event atmosphere” of theatre-going). In an impromptu conversation, we quickly moved away from the general consensus of liking it and recommending the film (for the note-taking studio PR rep) and focused our attention to an entirely different and more urgent problem altogether.
More specifically, our problem was this: just how the hell were we supposed to write about a film that demands such an extreme element of surprise?
A few critics joked it would be the shortest summary in movie history and lamented the fact that even the title gives something away! Likewise we didn’t envy the studio marketing team who obviously would have their work cut out for them in not revealing spoilers. And while the first few trailers for writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s film (which surprisingly came from an original story idea by comedian Steve Martin) just showcased the film’s breakneck pace, emphasis on action, and globe-hopping structure, sure enough the most recent commercials reveal darn near every single surprise.
Therefore, if you find yourself face-to-face with a Traitor trailer or commercial, close your eyes and plug your ears as they should be avoided at all costs. Simply put — Traitor is the cinematic equivalent of a house of cards and its success will topple if word gets out too soon.
So in the spirit of trying not to give anything away and avoid forcing my readers into the legions of those already in the know thanks to the ads, you’ll have to forgive a perfunctory synopsis. Essentially Traitor tells the story of elite, contemplative FBI investigator Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) who pursues the path of American citizen Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) who is linked to a group of international terrorists. Predictably, Clayton discovers — and I’m sure the title does cause most imaginations to run overtime — that there may be more to Horn’s story than it would appear.
Quicker than you can say “Jack Ryan meets Jason Bourne,” the film steps into high gear at its halfway point, making the second (and far more successful hour) all about political espionage, intrigue and conspiracy. A high tech version of cops and robbers in our post 9/11 world, Traitor does suffer from its delusions of grandeur and the fact that a revelation about two characters that comes in at the hour mark may have made the film’s script much stronger if audiences had been in on this from the start.
Not to mention, seven years after 9/11, we’ve begun growing weary of similar sounding rhetoric and Traitor’s screenplay is in desperate need of a polish as — due to its sometimes overly politically correct and sound-byte heavy dialogue — Pearce and Cheadle are forced to preach about religion far too often. And in the same token, the terrorists deliver speeches that sound like your run of the mill, anti-American propaganda we’re faced with on a daily basis in the media.
Still, while it falls short of its goal to be a new Bourne Identity entry or successor to Tom Clancy’s famous Jack Ryan series, Traitor never fails to entertain and does that job quite well. Additionally, it’s bolstered by wonderfully edited action sequences that ratchet up the tension as well as a top-notch cast headed up by one of my favorite character actors, Don Cheadle (who also produced).
While Pearce, Jeff Daniels, and Neal McDonough are all uniformly excellent, look for Traitor’s surprising scene stealer Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner, Vantage Point) who can next be seen playing Breaker in the hotly anticipated big screen adaptation of the Gen X favorite action figure — G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra.
Ever since he burst onto the scene with small but memorable turns in films such as Devil in a Blue Dress, Boogie Nights and Out of Sight, actor Don Cheadle has always left a major impression on me—a charismatic chameleon, at once convincing as Sammy Davis Jr. in the HBO film of the Rat Pack as he is in Traffic and Hotel Rwanda or countless others, there seems to be little that he cannot do. Eve’s Bayou writer/director Kasi Lemmons provides the perfect showcase for her leading man with this high energy film, inspired by the life of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Green Jr., the “tell-it-like-it-is” radio DJ who, after being released from jail is reluctantly given a job at a struggling R&B station in Washington D.C. by the new program director Dewey Hughes (the versatile Chiwetel Ejiofor who is quickly becoming an actor to watch in numerous roles over the past two years). While station head, E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) fears the profanity and no-holds-barred style of Green and the way it will play on WOLAM, Green scores a major audience following as in the late 1960’s, he becomes the outraged, weary and truthful voice commenting on the social injustice occurring during the Vietnam era after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and the ensuing riots that followed. Catapulted to fame by his work and flair for self-promotion, along with Hughes’s wishes to branch him out into other entertainment arenas such as public appearances and television, Green succumbs to alcohol and a fast lifestyle that troubles his relationship with his faithful, fiercely loyal and flamboyant girlfriend Vernell (a terrific Taraji P. Henson) when he proves to have a difficult time accepting his newfound fame as America’s first likable, controversial “shock jock” but unlike the antics of some radio personalities today who resort to juvenile antics in order to lure the lowest common denominator, Green actually had something to say. While some of the emotional payoffs feel rushed in the abridged telling of Green’s life in order to work in as much as possible and the audience is a bit shortchanged on facts near the end, it’s nonetheless a dazzling work that feels very much like a product of the time period it’s representing and will hopefully garner some richly deserved award consideration for Cheadle as well as Lemmons who has made her finest movie since her debut Eve’s Bayou.
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
More specifically, our problem was this: just how the hell were we supposed to write about a film that demands such an extreme element of surprise? 
So in the spirit of trying not to give anything away and avoid forcing my readers into the legions of those already in the know thanks to the ads, you’ll have to forgive a perfunctory synopsis. Essentially Traitor tells the story of elite, contemplative FBI investigator Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) who pursues the path of American citizen Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) who is linked to a group of international terrorists. Predictably, Clayton discovers — and I’m sure the title does cause most imaginations to run overtime — that there may be more to Horn’s story than it would appear.
Still, while it falls short of its goal to be a new Bourne Identity entry or successor to Tom Clancy’s famous Jack Ryan series, Traitor never fails to entertain and does that job quite well. Additionally, it’s bolstered by wonderfully edited action sequences that ratchet up the tension as well as a top-notch cast headed up by one of my favorite character actors, Don Cheadle (who also produced).
