Just Not Enough

alexkolokotronis

Making the movie Rendition was a very good idea and addresses an important problem that is occurring today. This movie though does fall short. It did not have the juice that Lions for Lambs or the shocking portrayals of a documentary.

The acting was for me below average. Reese Witherspoon looked her part and played the way she needed to as a pregnant mother who's husband has been kidnapped. I cannot say the same for the others though. Merryl Streep just annoyed me in this movie. She played as a top employee of the CIA (I think) who gives out the order of torturing someone, but the way she played her role was just so cliché and unoriginal she did not bring anything special that she usually does in other movies. She actually ruined this movie. Then there was Alan Arkin, he played very well but there is just one problem he was in the movie for about as long he is in the advertisements. He did show you what a senator does do but not enough. Peter Sarsgaard did have a very good chance to shine in here but he did not get enough screen time. He was the key to this movie and he just did not have the chance to inspire or perform the way he could have. Jake Gyllenhall who did was just there. I'm not really sure what he was supposed to do in this movie but just stand there. I think he is an overrated an actor and showed that in here. Yigal Noar who played the father looking for his daughter could as well have really had an impact on this movie but just did not. The two actors who played lovers really did not bring enough of an emphasis to there characters at all and it just fell short like the rest of this movie. Omar Metwally who played the man being tortured gave the best performance out of all of these actors.

The directing and writing was poor in Rendition. Gavin Hood and the writer are the main reason why this movie fell short in every aspect. They did not give too much meaning in this movie and did not develop the character in a efficient way. Probably the lack of development of the characters ruined this movie the most. That is why the acting was not too great. How could you write a story like this and not explain who these characters are and why they do the things they do. That is how you explain why people are terrorists, CIA agents, etc. Without that this is a horrible political movie and political statement. This movie does not even tell you the job positions of the Merrly Streep and Yigal Noar who are very important here. This movie needed to be much longer in order to truly push the message of the story forward but it just turned out to be a battle for screen time between the stars of Hollywood. Not enough clarity. Not enough development of characters, not enough reasoning and just too short.

score 3/10

alexkolokotronis 2 March 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1831745/