Brad Anderson’s Middle East-set drama is gamely byzantine but fails to integrate its hero’s troubled past effectively
‘A frontrunner who stumbled. But he’s manageable.” That’s the official precis of Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), former Us diplomat in Beirut who, after personal tragedy sends him back to the Us and into the arms of Jack Daniel’s, is asked to return to the Middle East to broker a tricky hostage swap. Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy’s thriller is gamely byzantine, establishing the complexity of the Lebanese civil war, the canvas in which straight-shooter Skiles has to operate. As one debate over the culprits for the latest car bombing goes: “The Plo says it’s the Amal militia. The Amal militia says it’s the Christian militia. The Christian militia says it’s the Druze. The Druze says it’s the Syrian army.”
But density isn’t quite the same as intelligence.
‘A frontrunner who stumbled. But he’s manageable.” That’s the official precis of Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), former Us diplomat in Beirut who, after personal tragedy sends him back to the Us and into the arms of Jack Daniel’s, is asked to return to the Middle East to broker a tricky hostage swap. Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy’s thriller is gamely byzantine, establishing the complexity of the Lebanese civil war, the canvas in which straight-shooter Skiles has to operate. As one debate over the culprits for the latest car bombing goes: “The Plo says it’s the Amal militia. The Amal militia says it’s the Christian militia. The Christian militia says it’s the Druze. The Druze says it’s the Syrian army.”
But density isn’t quite the same as intelligence.
- 8/8/2018
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
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