Traitor

Released: 2008

MPAA rating: R

Run time: 1:54

Sometimes I like to be surprised when I pop in a film to watch. Although I usually stick to my favorite genres, it is nice to occasionally put an action film (for example) on and find something else entirely. This is what I experienced with "Traitor". What I expected was a straight-ahead action film in "The Bourne Identity" tradition with Don Cheadle as a man falsely accused of being a traitor and being "hunted" by the CIA. Some of that expectation was accurate. During the first third of the movie, while we watched the exploits of Samir Horn (Cheadle), I became very confused bordering on uncomfortable. Horn, you see, is a devout Muslim who was once in the US Special Forces, but now is part of a terror cell planning bombings around the world. From the movie's perspective, he is pretty much portrayed as a hero. While he is doing his thing, FBI Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) is investigating the bombings and somehow Horn's name keeps coming up. The second third is pretty much a back and forth as we track Clayton's investigation and Horn's attempts to keep one step ahead. There are some great plot twists at this point that set up that the people we are watching are not always what they appear to be. The script is very well set up, letting you in on things only when they want to let you in on things while still keeping all of the characters consistent. Don Cheadle is extremely good, as usual, and actually does a lot of acting with facial expressions in this film. At times, his face is worth a thousand words. Guy Pearce also does a great job as the FBI agent on his heels. The movie was very entertaining, but there did seem to be a pretty heavy "Islam is a peaceful religion" overtone. Even with that, they fairly portrayed Muslim extremists as ruthless, violent people. "Traitor" is a complex, entertaining film with great character depth, great acting and great writing. Oh yeah, the action is not bad, either!

Grade: B-

Trailer: