New film with Don Cheadle and Guy Pierce.

Looks interesting - here is the trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/traitor/trailer1/

i might end up watching it whne its released.

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don cheadle needs to be a leading man in a mainstream movie. plus, this just looks good in general.

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It almost looks like a Bourne movie...only with Don Cheadle.

Good discussion on Traitor and other topics:

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/tt080827don_cheadle


I missed a free screening of this the other night, but I suppose I'll support Don Cheadle the producer by paying to see it

*checks for Black Hollywood Halo*
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<-- Willie Gold... a real American.

Don C is one of my favorite actors

good flick overall.

i'd slept on the actor who played 'omar' in the movie... before 'traitor' the last thing i'd seen him in was "three kings". good actor.

He's finally breaking out of the terrorist role and playing a good guy (Breaker) in GI Joe.

I liked it. Wish I hadn't seen the trailer because it kind of takes away from it but a solid movie along the lines of The Bank Job. Not amazing but a good film that adds a little bit to the genre.

The Bourne Identity

People going in expecting The Bourne Identity will be disappointed. It's not really an action movie at all.

plus Cheadle's character isn't an amnesiac

Interesting character Cheadle choose to play. Shame this isn't going to do decent numbers dollarwise. Hope he continues to work on movies like this in the future.

I wasn't expecting Samir to be such an engaging character, nor did I think the film would be so sympathetic and careful with their portrayal of radical Islamists. I was actually liking Omar, to some discomfort on my behalf.

The parts that do have action aren't too long, but effective ala Children Of Men (GREAT sound as well). I didn't find it to be overly predictable, either, even with the trailers for it. Don Cheadle IS leading man caliber. Please see this.

specifically for the bus scene. completely unpredictable twist...my favorite part of the film

d

poplock.blogspot.com

smart story line & acting are top notch.

I was on the edge of my seat numerous times

ever since united states of leland.

i'd recommend it, but dont go in thinking it's bourne redone. it has action, but not as much as bourne - different kind of action

>but dont go in thinking it's bourne redone.
>it has action, but not as much as bourne - different kind of
>action

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This right here? History in the makin', man

the first half of the movie did a great job of pulling you in.
even though I knew Samir was working with the U.S. that first half had me thinking, damn maybe he is really down with Omar&crew.

I also think they should've spent more time on Samir, told more of his story. every scene cheadle was in was electric in my opinion

What can I say that has not already been said. Trairor is a smart, unstereotypical, unpredictable film. Cheadle is outstanding as Samir a devout muslim whose spygame is all about the glory of the faith and not violence.
Grade A-

SPOILERS

So Don Cheadle's character put all of the terrorists on the same bus and they blew each other up, along with a some civilians. And he was hailed as a hero by Guy Pearce's character? Cheadle's character had to know civilians would die, which we know he was vehemently against, so why did he go through with it? He could have alerted the authorities, given them bombs that didn't work, sent them emails telling the bombers the plan was off or giving them bus routes that didn't exist or something. Didn't make sense to me that he'd facilitate the death of civilians, even if it was fewer than the extremists planned. Was Cheadle willing to let those civilians die if it meant he had the chance to see the main guy one last time and kill him? But as demonstrated, he was able to see him before the main guy knew if the plot was successful or not, so that wasn't an issue. What was Jeff Daniel's original plan? Was he going to let the terrorists blow up the bus?

Anyway, I liked it mostly. I really liked the idea of religous people being exploited by people with political agendas. But unless I missed something, it fell apart at the end.

and that is the point of the movie. You feel as though the movie fell apart in the end because you wanted a polically correct ending. There is always gonna to be some loss of life in terrorist situations, IMO. Samir was a good fuy trying to the right thing. His motivation was his faith and father's philosophy(the film gave a few vague references). I think the film was trying to show that even the honest man sometimes got to make compromises. You wanted him to do the right thing for the greater good which was not his motivation. Samir IMO is a jihadist trying to save Islam while Omar and company are jihadists trying to destroy America. That is what i got out of the film.

>and that is the point of the movie. You feel as
>though the movie fell apart in the end because you
>wanted a polically correct ending.

See, that's why Guy Pearce's character's reaction was strange to me, or Samir's freedom for that matter, because it seemed like an effort to put a positive spin on an ending that was not positive. He helped blow up American civilians. And they showed he was troubled by that, that it wasn't a victory to him, but I don't get why the American government, at least as represented by Guy Pearce, weren't after him for his involvement. Were they so happy he blew the ringleader away that they forgave his participation in deadly terrorist attack? Just didn't seem very realistic to me. It felt like one of those "you broke a lot of laws, but all is forgiven because you did one good thing and we see where you're coming from now" endings that lesser Hollywood thrillers use so much.

There is always
>gonna to be some loss of life in terrorist situations,
>IMO. Samir was a good fuy trying to the right thing.
>His motivation was his faith and father's philosophy(the
>film gave a few vague references). I think the film
>was trying to show that even the honest man sometimes
>got to make compromises. You wanted him to do the
>right thing for the greater good which was not his
>motivation.

It's not what I wanted him to do. Just what I expected him to do after the film seemed to establish earlier that human loss was unacceptable to him. But I'll admit I'm not sure on what his and Jeff Daniels' original plan with the bus was, so maybe he knew civilians would die all along, but if so I don't think they really established why he was okay with it now when he wasn't with the embassy.

the movie was basically all about how the terrorists and the American government were the same for what they do. You hear it when the terrorists are speaking to each other about America and when the Government is talking about the terrorists. You see it when Cheadle accuses Jeff Daniels for being no better than 'them'. You see it when Cheadle tells the FBI, "the only difference is that the other guy knows he's an asshole." Throughout the whole movie all these parallels are drawn between the terrorists and American government. That is what I also took from the last scene of the movie. The government cleared his file basically telling him what you said "all your crimes are overlooked because you did one good thing." They thought just like the terrorists. That paralleled the scene when they were talking about chess and how you have to sacrifice some of your pawns. Both the terrorists and government think like that. Cheadle didNOT think like. But someone below said there was no part in the movie where Cheadle changed and I don't think that is true. I think he changed in the scene where he told his girl she had to forget about him. He still believed what he believed but he also knew that he was in too deep at that point. And when Jeff Daniels told him "all of the people would have dies in vain if they stopped" he knows he is right but he still tells Jeff he is just like the terrorists because he is the only one that sees what is going on. But like I said, he was in too deep at that point and knew what he needed to do.
As far as the people all going on one bus, I actually liked that part because it brought the movie full circle. Cheadle finally realized he had to sacrifice. And judging by people's responses, everyone thought that he would've given them bombs that didn't work so they didn't take the predictable route.
Another thing about the last scene, it also showed how it is never going to stop because the FBI then tried to recruit Cheadle to help them, which in essence would be the same thing he was doing for the terrorists. Both the government and terrorists just 'use' people and that was the main point of the entire movie. How both groups were very much alike.

It was somehow IMO both predictable and implausible (having everyone on the same bus). It didn't ruin the film by any means but it definitely knocked it down a notch IMO.

Also, as you've said, Samir was completely opposed to the taking of innocent lives (he was against it in the initial bombing and argued against it when talking to Daniels) and there never was a point where you saw him understand that sometimes innocent lives were collateral damage. In fact, the last we saw him talking about it, he was kind of damning Daniels's character as being no better than the terrorists.

I think people can read into it and get something out of it but, for me, that moment of recognition/clarity for Samir wasn't there.

was the weakest part of the whole film.
well at least the part where all the Terrorist got blown up on the same bus.
I also thought that he would have gave them bombs that didn't work.

I don't think he expected to live through the final confrontation with Samir and the others.

choice but to alter everything and bring things to a final end. I felt a sense of desperation when Jeff Daniels got blasted like, "damn he's trapped now". Samir was never happy with killing anyone, and still was messed up bout it at the end. I think he and Jeff's plans were to set up the ringleaders of the terrorist group and bring them down ultimately. That's why at the end Guy asked him to work with him, and he said hell to tha naw in so many words.

when Daniels character got popped said it all, like "DAMN, WHAT DO I DO NOW?"

this movie made me jump in my seat a few times and had my heart beating a few as well. Don did his thing-thing in it as well.

I liked this movie a lot. Very similar to "Sleeper Cell" which I enjoyed greatly. It definitely wasn't like how the trailers presented it. It was presented as a spy action flick a la "The Bourne Identity", but it was obviously much more. I give it a B+.
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"Don't fight it." (c) Jack Bauer

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Last 7 movies I saw:

Traitor: B+
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: B-
Burn After Reading: C+
Slumdog Millionaire: B+
Benjie Button: B+
Yes Man: B
Rendition: B-
Redbelt: C-