{"id":4572,"date":"2014-06-28T06:38:27","date_gmt":"2014-06-28T05:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4572"},"modified":"2014-11-26T00:25:42","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T23:25:42","slug":"a-most-wanted-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/06\/28\/a-most-wanted-man\/","title":{"rendered":"A Most Wanted Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A Most Wanted Man<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 12 September 2014

\nDistributor:<\/B> Entertainment One

\nDirector:<\/B> Anton Corbijn

\nWriter:<\/B> Andrew Bovell

\nBased on the novel by:<\/B> John le Carr\u00e9

\nCast:<\/B> Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl, Nina Hoss, Willem Dafoe

\nUSA, UK, Germany 2014

\n122 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Most Wanted Man<\/i> \u2013 what a weirdly plummy, English title, but this is a John le Carré adaptation, after all, even if most of the characters are Germans. Played by Americans. Doing German accents. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman is an anti-terrorist spook in Hamburg, and is as electrifying as you\u2019d expect, though it\u2019s odd seeing him apparently do an impersonation of Anthony Hopkins pretending to be German, while Willem Dafoe seems to be doing Peter O\u2019Toole as another German, possibly in Night of the Generals<\/i>. <\/p>\n

A Most Wanted Man<\/i> is released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray on 19 January 2015 by Entertainment One.<\/div>\n

Is Tarantino right to propose that films in which foreign characters speak English are outmoded? People still seem to be making them. In this case, the man responsible is Anton Corbjin, the talented music video director who made a strong debut with the Ian Curtis biopic Control<\/i><\/a> and followed it with the Melvillean thriller The American<\/i>. This movie aims for a similarly crisp, glassy surface, a deadpan thriller full of moral ambiguities and questionable alliances.<\/p>\n

A Chechen\/Russian fugitive arrives in Hamburg illegally and attempts to claim a vast inheritance left by his father. He could be a terrorist, or the Arab philanthropist he plans to donate the money to might be funding terrorism. Hoffman might have a plan for how to turn them both to his side, but the Americans, led by Robin Wright, might not be trustworthy (you think?).<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s biggest problem is one particularly affecting audiences who know le Carr\u00e9\u2019s work: the story\u2019s outcome is never in doubt. Maybe the attempts to make it a surprise were misguided. No doubt the doom-laden setting and tragic denouement are true to the reality of these situations, but the audience would appreciate some surprises. Still, things going wrong allows Hoffman to display his extremely skilled deployment of the F-bomb one last time. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere there are a few unfortunate sops to the dummies, which patronise the rest of us: when Dafoe, a wealthy banker, reads a name on a card, he is obliged to read it aloud, despite being alone in the room and the card being held in a giant close-up so we can read it ourselves. When Hoffman lights one of his constant cigarettes, there\u2019s a slight hissing crackle as the tobacco catches fire, a movie clich\u00e9 that has no real place here. And the early suspense scenes feature ominous music playing over shots of Muslims praying, pandering to an Islamophobic mindset the film is otherwise at pains to avoid.<\/p>\n

This review was first published as part of our 2014 EIFF coverage<\/a><\/A>.<\/div>\n

David Cairns<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer: <\/b><\/p>\n