traitor1.jpg

What's the Arabic Word for "Predictable"?


Traitor / Daniel Carlson

From the first flickering frames of a typically “traumatic” opening sequence, to the Middle Eastern music cues and sitar flares, to the tin-ear dialogue, to the necessary plot points, to just about everything else, writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s Traitor feels like a synthesis of every modern thriller about Islamic terrorists. We’ve reached a point in our culture, cinematically, where pretty much every movie that even comes within spitting distance of being a political thriller has to include jihads and comflicted Feds and leaks and miscommunications; it’s like Nachmanoff was handed a recipe card labeled “Completely Adequate But Ultimately Pointless Thriller” and followed every dull step. But the weird thing is that all that predictability winds up being somehow comforting, as if Nachmanoff is grateful enough to have an audience that he doesn’t want them to work too hard, and he’s lucky enough to have Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce as leads, who elevate every scene they’re in. Basically, Traitor is like the best meal you’ve ever had at Taco Bell: Not as horrifying as it could have been, but still, you could have done a lot better.

The film opens in the Sudan in the early 1970s, where a young black boy is playing chess with his Arab father. The game ends, and the man exits the house and gets into a car outside with (presumably) friends. It’s a wide shot, showing the car and the empty-ish street around it, and this is a movie involving Arabs set in a country many people couldn’t point to on a map, which means that car can’t do anything but explode, sending the boy on a harrowing emotional journey that will haunt the rest of his conflicted days. And it does. Cut to present-day Yemen, where that boy has grown up to be Samir Horn (Cheadle), who drives to a shady meet in order to sell explosives to some itchy Muslims led by Omar (Said Taghmaoui). Samir almost closes the deal when the building is invaded by the Yemeni army and a pair of FBI agents, Clayton (Pearce) and Archer (Neal McDonough), who arrest everyone. Clayton interrogates Samir about where he got the bombs and where they were going, and it’s in their first scene together that the film shows one of its all too brief moments of becoming something more original and involving than your standard terrorist thriller. Cheadle is cool and noble, a Muslim man who believes in Allah and points out that he’s sold weapons to the U.S., and Pearce perfectly underplays Clayton, a Southern man devoted to justice but unwilling to go cracking skulls over it. When Archer and Clayton walk in, it isn’t bad cop, good cop; it’s bad cop and the cop who’s way too smart for this movie. Pearce and Cheadle make the most of their respective moments on screen, and are even better playing off each other, but it can’t last. Clayton walks out of the cell, leaving Samir to waste away in Yemeni jail.

And that would be that, except that (a) Samir is actually an undercover operative for the CIA, and (b) Samir and Omar become friends in prison, so when Omar breaks out, he takes Samir with him as a fellow believer and someone who knows how to handle demolitions. Meanwhile, the terrorist group to which Omar belongs starts bombing random targets like a beackfront in Spain, putting Clayton and Archer on their trail and, accordingly, Samir’s. Samir is forced to juggle time with his new friends with occasional meets with Carter (Jeff Daniels), his handler, and though Nachmanoff bumps up against some potentially powerful themes — e.g., how far should the U.S. go to stop terrorists, what’s the real human cost of the war on terror, etc. — Samir and Carter never get into it for long. Carter tells Samir to keep going; Samir is conflicted; they leave.

It’s during the generically focused but emotionally distant second act that Nachmanoff — with an inexplicable story credit from Steve Martin — reveals just how admirably dedicated he is to making a completely pedestrian movie. Not a single part of it feels new, or even real, from aesthetic details like the cluttered FBI offices with Bruckheimerian walls of reflective glass everywhere, to character details like Samir and Clayton’s lack of motivation, to structural problems like bad dialogue and repetitive music. When Samir confronts Carter about his doubts, he says, “We’ve got blood on our hands,” to which Carter responds (say it with me now), “This is a war. You do what it takes to win.” Then there’s the moment when Samir emerges from forced hiding to contact his girlfriend, only to tell her, “The truth is complicated.” Is it ever anything else? Nachmanoff’s characters don’t have any subtext because they’re too busy using it as dialogue, and they don’t have any motivation because they’re too busy running around and faking it. Passing mention is given to Samir’s and Clayton’s fathers, but not enough to even halfway cement their upbringing as something to embrace or overcome. Why do these men do what they do? I don’t even think Nachmanoff knows.

Still, the movie is saved from outright failure because of Cheadle and Pearce. They are two of the strongest leading men of their generation, and they’ve got the confidence to slow play their characters, to do the most they can with what little they’ve been given in the script and make these men, or at least the manhunt, somehow relatable. Everyone else is mostly forgettable, including McDonough, who never seems quite at home in the role, and Daniels, who seems to have shot his scenes during his lunch break from something else. Yet it’s Taghmaoui who often winds up the most relatable simply because he’s the most recognizable. He’s a French-born actor who, among other things, co-wrote Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine, but the guy makes his money playing generic terrorist roles like this one. (He was also in Three Kings as the pissed-off Iraqi who tortured Mark Wahlberg.) He’s a talented actor, but because movies like this one are easy to churn out and show no sign of going away, he’ll probably stay employed for a while. As soon as I saw him on screen, I knew the movie was doomed.

Daniel Carlson is the managing editor of Pajiba and a low-level employee at a Hollywood industry magazine. You can visit his blog, Slowly Going Bald.


Disaster Movie | | College |



Comments

Geee I liked this movie better the first time it came out, when it was called Art of War, and there was hot Asian chick in it.

and Wesley Snipes

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at August 29, 2008 6:26 PM

قابل للتنبؤ, متوقع

Although the usage is determinant upon the context. Also, I could've told you this was going to blow.

Posted by: Google at August 29, 2008 6:30 PM

I just hope it's some fucking going on in this movie.

Posted by: Pookie at August 29, 2008 6:41 PM

That's funny, I haven't seen any political thrillers with comflicted Feds in it recently.

Posted by: Lyra at August 29, 2008 6:41 PM

What the motherfucking fuck?

Don Cheadle is far too well connected and too fucking talented in too many directions to be associated with shit. This must have been fucked in post, or fucked by the suits. There is simply no other explanation.

Parenthetically speaking... I am beginning to think that the goddamned powers that be deliberately tank 9 out of 10 GOOD films. I may or may not work up enough energy to write something about this after the election.

Carry on.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 6:41 PM

I resent your implication that Taco Bell is anything less that the exquisite nectar of the Gods.

Posted by: Marra at August 29, 2008 7:03 PM

Damnit, my friends will probably drag me to this one and then rave about it for a while (like they did with Crash, does that mean I need new friends?) so I was really hoping it would be decent. What about the twist ending? Any good?

Posted by: the_wakeful (in Flag) at August 29, 2008 7:26 PM

Well, lookie here? O'Connor does seem to vist this site a lot more than she'd like to admit.

Revel upon us common people, you embarrassing example of a rabid Democrat.

Idiots like you are going to keep your precious obama out of office, and that's what the majority of us are counting on.

Carry on.

Posted by: WisdomYouDon'tHave at August 29, 2008 8:12 PM

WYDH:

Your name is far too long and your genuine pomposity far outstrips my poseur brand, dickcheese.


As for politics, you're not in my league. When it comes to debating the relative merits of rabidity versus passivity, you have already demonstrated here that your intellectual capacity rivals that of a comatose armadillo, of one of those people who wakes up in the morning and brushes his tooth...

"Revel upon us common people..." -- ???

I'm betting you once thought that "proletariat" won a big horse race.

The rabid "Democrat"(Yeah, you got THAT wrong, too, cocksniff -- I hate the Democrats only skightly less than the Republicants)... rests her case.



Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 8:30 PM

I fucking hate it when a typo ruins my stride.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 8:32 PM

And if I'd thought about it for a SECOND longer, I might have mentioned the DELICIOUS irony of your unbelievably hilarious screenname.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 8:34 PM

WYDH, would you like to press charges against O'Connor? I mean if I got bludgeoned like that, I'd want to make someone pay.

Posted by: Pookie at August 29, 2008 8:51 PM

You have a good weekend, too, O'Connor. Always nice to engage in civilised discourse with someone who knows what the hell they're talinkg about (if only "skightly")...

See? True Repubs will end up bringing you to your/their knees, because you are simply too over-emotional to provide any real, readable opinion that would matter to anyone

(and because you actually thought I mis-spelled a word purely by mistake.)

Posted by: WIDM (I Like That) at August 29, 2008 8:53 PM

Me and my friends, oh I'm sorry, my friends and I have a bet, how many days until McCain calls Palin a cunt?

Posted by: Pookie at August 29, 2008 9:04 PM

WIDM, you syphilic imbecile, I wasn't even talking about a fuckin' misspelling -- mistaken or otherwise.

"Readable?" "Mis-spelled?" Spelling is the least of your worries.

And yeah -- back-pedal till your little calves burn burn burn, my little fetal-tissue defender -- it'd take a full Congressional Committee and a horde of Hah-vahd lawyers to convince a mouth-breathing box of jurors your spelling mistakes are craftily planted...

Like, say, those dinosaur bones GAWD HIMSELF placed in the sand to TEST THE FAITH of True Believers, like, oh, I dunno... your VP Goddess Herself, along with the rest of the Christo Fascist Neocon Zombie Brigade.

Excuse me, I have work to do in the reality based community now.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 9:15 PM

Me and my friends, oh I'm sorry, my friends and I have a bet, how many days until McCain calls Palin a cunt?


Posted by: Pookie at August 29, 2008 9:04 PM

Goddammit Pookie, I don't want to like you, but shit like this just makes it impossible for me not to! Good job!

Posted by: Lainey at August 29, 2008 9:21 PM

O'Conner,

I most certainly enjoyed fucking up your Friday night with political warblings designed expressly to expose your sputtering wrath of "I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about but if I use enough provocative words people will see I am purely of superior intellect" bullshit you espouse on a daily basis on your excremental site.

Shall we make a date for next Friday night? At least I'm at home minding my own business while you do your "reality based community" work on some jobless crack-head who happened to scrape up an extra $3 for your oral services between your tireless bouts of defending the integrity of our country.

Rush Limbaugh would eat you alive, missy, unless he choked on your liberal bile before finishing.

Posted by: WIDM (WisdomIDispenseMomentarily) at August 29, 2008 10:02 PM

Your comments, WIDM, hardly "fuck me up." They just sort of lie there like a terminally ill whore who still has to fuck enough johns to pay for morphine.

You seem to have mistaken my responses as "sputtering wrath." I am exercising my wrists, dittohead. Rush Limbaugh might be a step up -- to, say, 5 pound dumbbells. MIGHT be. If he's not still snorting low-grade hillbilly heroin.

You, on the other hand, SEEM like someone who tries to compensate online for an inability to acquire in real life whatever might validate an existence that evidently offers neither you nor anyone else satisfaction in any area that most people consider worthwhile.

Pity. You're not very good at it here, either.

Lemme guess... you're in your early twenties? One of those guys who can't get laid in real life, just rips off comments here at Pajiba into the wee hours, knowing your best effort at a first strike OR riposte never even gets a whisper of a chuckle out of anyone...

You cannot resist someone like me, can you?

I dare you to stop. Double dog dare you.

Prove you're don't have the maturity level of an 8 year old boy.

We've already established you have the intellectual capacity of a plastic houseplant and a future as a chalk outline.

Let's see what you can manage.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 10:16 PM

Damn.

I came on here to find about a movie starring the Cheadle and the Blue Eyed Adonis Neal McDonough.

I find a brutal text-based fistfight between what appears to be a regular commenter and a random street preacher that got hit by a car crossing the interstate.

I have no idea how this started, and frankly couldn't care less.

Maryscott, I do believe the boy has had enough. Please return to you corner so that the medic can tend to him. We even have Clive Owen as your corner man, if that helps.

Me and my friends, oh I'm sorry, my friends and I have a bet, how many days until McCain calls Palin a cunt?

I got 10 bucks on September 5th. That being the date the story is broken, since he has probably called her one already.

Posted by: Vermillion at August 29, 2008 10:26 PM

Vermilion, my man, you said the magic words. In my defense, the mouth-breather had it coming. I was writing reviews here before that missing link knew how to pronounce this site's NAME, goddamnit.

Oh, Clive, Clive. Why must you take so much time off between films, and if you had to make Derailed, for chrissakes, WHY did the sex scene have to be with that snotty little pustule of a Frenchman and not YOU???

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 10:33 PM

It got a little heated in here, yes? I come here for the boobie jokes, not the verbal bludgeonings!! Where the hell are my boobie jokes?

Posted by: Mella at August 29, 2008 11:05 PM

Mella...

BOOBIE JOKES? I got nothin', hon.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 11:25 PM

So Mary,

you are indeed as dateless and pathetic as you felt the need to emphasize with your labored public response to me, no? Oh Scarlett, you flatter me with your unpretentious, tempetuous, bosom-busting sincerity, make no mistake of that, tender blossom.

It only more amazes me more that you are imbecilic enough to not realize that I'm totally playing your ass, you clueless cunt (Now you were the one who started with the 'dickcheese' & all that, I owe you a nasty word back - 'cunt' seems to fit nicely)

Now I could play this shit all night if you want to throw out "double dog" dare-yous; all's I'm sayin' is that you fell into a no-win trap the very instant you responded to my 1st comment; that is

You took me seriously, without once questioning my flammable-retardant (pun intended) views that were (I thought) obvious signals that WIDM was a totally made-up, complete waste of a human being
that clearly did not deserve to exist in our Untied States of America, however fucked we may all be. Sorry for being too subtle with you there.

In other words - chill, seestah. You've got bigger battles to fight, so get your 'left wing' in gear and make sure we don't get another ass-wipe of a president to continue ruining our country for the next eight years. I'd eat Devine's regurgitated dogshit before I voted for a Repugnantcan.

How about you stop wasting your time here, thinking of witty/bitchy rejoinders, and get your ass working to prevent another GOP administration?

Save your venom for the jackasses who actually reach beyond a single web site and get national TV exposure for their own warped POV's.

I mean, YOU got a site-- I don't. So show your loyal readers that this petty argument is what keeps you away from updating them as much as you apparently have time to extend this courtesy to me.

You're a hothead, Mary, & that shit just doesn't cut it when you're on a particular low rung of the ladder.

We can bitch-slap each other all you want, but do you really want to prolong my pleasure in bringing out the absolute worst in you??

Posted by: WIDM at August 29, 2008 11:36 PM

Ahhhhhh.

FINALLY.

It follows as the day the night.

TMax, darling boy... My body temperature doesn't rise when I play online with the 1s and the 0s the way it did in my 30s. I promise. My kidlet and spousal unit deserve more of my energy than I'd have left.

I told you the truth; it's practice. That's all. Not time wasting, for chrissakes -- jesus hussein christ, I need a fucking BREAK from the goddamned political spin machinery. What, you want me fucking slogging away twenty four fucking seven??? I do that, I end up doing what I did last night. I wrote the sappiest motherfucking piece of shit couple of 'graphs on The Speech, man... I'm ASHAMED.

The RANT I posted the day before was better. WAY better. My timing this whole fucking past few weeks has been off. WAY off. Why? Because I HAVEN'T been wasting enough time.

So donnez-moi une fucking BREAK, my darling schmuck. I NEED my time wastage.

I neeeeeed it. Like I need my Clive.

Gimme.

Only next time, pay me the respect of wearing a better fucking mask, man. I had you pegged three fucking sentences in. Asswipe.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 11:45 PM

Though, Tmax, by the by --

I had the nat'l TV exposure. On fucking Faux. It made me physically ill, way worse when I was a LITERAL whore -- though I did look fucking HOT, though.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 11:48 PM

And stop calling me "Mary."

It fucking pisses me off.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 11:49 PM

P.S. I cheated, too, on the identity thing.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 29, 2008 11:52 PM

Oh my Godtopus. What the hell? I feel like I did something wrong just by reading this comment thread. Yeesh. Note to self: Don't piss off Maryscott.

I have 10 on the story breaking September 17th. September 5th will be the day that someone from the McCain campaign leaks that the senile bastard thought he was signing on Hillary, not Palin, thus the cunt calling.

Posted by: Kash at August 29, 2008 11:57 PM

*Stands in the background like the supporting cast of an episode of Yo Momma* Daaaaaaamn! She got jokes! She got jokes!

Also, I'd like to hope Mr. Steve Martin was responsible for the few interesting moments of this film. I still respect what he writes. If not what he appears in.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at August 30, 2008 12:10 AM

Ms. O'Connor

Saying you needed a "fucking BREAK" from all the political shit just now, I empathized with you in a way that I wish I could take back all the invective I spilled on you, and just hope you'd give me a hug and an "it's alright" to ease my stomach-churning guilt over needlessly 'attacking' you tonight like I did. I had a bad week, feeling totally dumped on by mankind, and I released my vitriol on someone who seems apparently as fed up as I am. Bad choice, indeed.

I'm a jerk, and I apologize. Bless your kidlet and spousal unit, forget everything I wrote in a stupid, unreasonably-angry way, and please enjoy this holiday weekend knowing that you've gained a lot more people's respect and appreciation, including mine.

I'll be too embarassed over my writing in the morning to re-check this site, but please accept my apology, if only for my unwarranted belligerence (I fucking HATE bullys, always have, always will)

Most Humbly Yours

Posted by: WIDM (WisecracksIDon'tMean) at August 30, 2008 12:12 AM

Oooh, did it have a wailing chick during the dramatic parts? You know, the Gladiator soundtrack lady who's sang in every Middle Eastern themed movie since 1998?

Posted by: Jaci at August 30, 2008 12:37 AM

Did anyone else see the CNN headline tonight about Palin? "Mccain taps gov. Sarah palin"

Needless to say they changed it to "picks" right quick.

Posted by: the_wakeful at August 30, 2008 12:41 AM

Yeah the movie was okay and not much else. It was pretty pedestrian save for the fact that Cheadle finally got a lead role. That almost made up for the boredom. The scene where Samir and Clayton confront each other in the projects looked as trite as any other mano a mano on celluloid. "We are so much a like you and I . . .

Posted by: Mr.West at August 30, 2008 12:45 AM

"Basically, Traitor is like the best meal you've ever had at Taco Bell: Not as horrifying as it could have been, but still, you could have done a lot better."

By any yardstick you care to name, Taco Hell is quite literally shit wrapped in a tortilla. I've eaten jail food that was better than what gets pumped out of those franchised dung purveyors. The best meal I ever had there could best be compared metaphorically by performing cataract surgery with a belt sander.

And all I'll say on the political side of the commentswarm is this: The VP debates are going to be very, very interesting.

Posted by: The Wanderer at August 30, 2008 7:51 AM

As far as the VP goes I'll go by what my great-great-great-grandpa Barbado once said:

"show me a born again, holier-than-thou ex-beauty queen Republican, and I'll show you an ex-hooker.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at August 30, 2008 9:19 AM

Barbado, you always make me so happy.

Apparently she's the HOTTEST governor. As stated by Alaska magazine. And they know HOT!

But I digress. Basically, I will see this movie. Guy Pearce is in it. That's all I ever need to know. It is so rare to have the opportunity to watch him on the big screen, so I must take this chance and roll with it. Please don't remind me of the $9.25 I will be wasting. It hurts too much.

Posted by: Rachael at August 30, 2008 11:39 AM

WIDM, you big bear of a jokester, I demand group sex for all. Virtually, of course, not only per the marriage contract but also because god only knows what kind of STDs we're all dragging along from the bad old days...

Fuck apologies. Pajiba means never having to say you're sorry. Besides, it WAS good practice. Do you KNOW what kind of hate mail I get? I actually got death threats after the Washington Post story. The FBI was involved, it was NOT pretty.

And by that I mean, dude, those suits are WAY tacky.

As for McCain's VP pick...

Sarah Palin... did you PAY someone to do that to your hair, or is that just what was left after you caught last night's din-din?

Goodnight! Tip your waitress! Try the veal!

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 30, 2008 1:17 PM

B-Slim...

You got something against ex-hookers?

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at August 30, 2008 2:14 PM

I love Don Cheadle so much...that I overlooked his terrible cockney(?) accent in the Ocean's movies. He was spot on in so many others, like Bullworth, Out of Sight, even Family Man w/ Nick Cage. Once Traitor is released in Japan I'm going to see it... maybe I'll even pay full price at the theatre (\1700-\1800 per person, but ladies nights are about \1000).
O.T. Has anyone been asked about a review for Django-The sukiyaki Western? Tarantino has very little screen time, but he makes it work in his strange way.He is literally the only :white: person in the cast. Everyone is Japanese speaking English. I had no trouble undestanding the way the cast spoke. There are layers of this film which will be hard for people who know little about Japanese culture. I myself had to ask my husband about thing or two.
I'm not saying this is the best movie ever, but it was sure as hell a lot more entertainment than most neutered Hollywhat? movies. I mean the costumes, outdoor sets, and the fighting scenes are really something. I don't want to repeat this if someone else has done so, but this flick is not a comedy. There are absurd moments to be sure, but those moments seem to try to forget for a second about the hell that has become of a once pretty little town in such a short time.

Posted by: dora at August 31, 2008 3:38 PM

Modern thriller. Best meal at Taco Bell. Hot governor. Welcome to Oxymoron Day at Pajiba!

I'm in the McCain/Palin pool for a sawbuck on October 2, at roughly 9:35 PM CDT.

I liked the Wisdom I Dispense Momentarily expansion of the acronym best, because it was the most honest in its acknowledgement that the wisdom was still to come...

Posted by: Che Grovera at August 31, 2008 3:40 PM

Wait a minute, didn't this used to be a movie review site?

Posted by: snapnhiss at September 1, 2008 4:28 PM

snapnhiss, it still is.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at September 2, 2008 1:28 PM

just saw this movie and it was pretty bad. the review is pretty much on the money.it was, however light years better than the moronic exchange between the 2 " need-a-lifers", WIMD and mary whatever.

'

Posted by: snake at September 3, 2008 11:45 AM



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