A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Great Film overall

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A Most Wanted Man3 And A Half Out Of 5A Most Wanted Man is a character driven political thriller about a few good-hearted infiltrators whose attempt to pull of an impossible yet utterly glorious task ends up with dilemmas on each step. The stakes aren't higher as one usually gets in such tales, but the inner politics is so well constructed that you cannot not communicate with its designing. The screenplay is so tight and written like a poetry on the sense that it enfolds each time a different perspective, angle, character and a piece of information that somehow sets the clock at zero. And since the feature is build upon the race against time factor, the sense of urgency never fades away even though it ticks for an entire two hours. Corbign's world is busy in all its act (even in its first act, it doesn't spend its time on laying out the plot for the audience) where the viewers has to work hard to catch up with it. It is rich on technical aspects like using its props, amazing camera work, fine editing and sharp sound effects although fails on pitching a palpable background score. Goose fleshing revelations, tricky and convoluted plot and eye-popping cinematography are the high points of the feature that keeps the audience tangled in its world. Bovell's adaptation might be gripping and layered but Corbign's execution surpasses the script and sensibly respects each frame projected on the screen. Hoffman oozes power, vulnerability and emotional aspects of his character unflinchingly with an amazing supporting cast like McAdams, Dafoe Wright, Bruhl and Krieps. A Most Wanted Man is not what we wanted but needed, in an industry where most of the mission were taken over by action and chase scenes, it is inexpressibly refreshing to encounter a chess game.

Film-play? = Looks ok, nothing special. camera was shaky at times, boring cuts. Cast? = PSH was very good at his role of playing unwell tired aged spy. the 'badguy' was likeable as it turned out he was not a bad guy. Storyline? = interesting especially as it highlighted not all muslims are badguys. Score? = n/a Re-watchable ? = No, one time film Why I scored down? = nothing spetacular in screenplay or score. Why I scored up? = very interesting, showed how not all spy films need to be action filled.

"A Most Wanted Man" concerns a group of anti-terrorism agents in Hamburg, Germany, the head man being Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman). A Chechen-Muslim immigrant, Issa (Grigoriy Dobrygin) appears, in terrible shape after torture, and wants to claim his father's tainted fortune and then divest himself of it by signing it over to his father's best friend, banker Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi) so that it is given to charities. Both the German security operation and the U.S. security operation want to know if he's for real or an actual terrorist himself.As part of German Intelligence, Gunther notes Issa's ties to this philanthropist, but Gunther also thinks this man funds terrorists as well as charities.Based on a John LeCarre novel, A Most Wanted Man is both slow and suspenseful, with Hoffman really carrying the film as a tired man who smokes constantly. His whole life is his career. It is a brilliant performance. What a void he has left.Rachel McAdams plays Issa's attorney, Willem Dafoe is a banker, and Gunther's team consists of Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl. This is LeCarre - no flashy James Bond effects, but very intelligent nonetheless. It's a film about winners and losers, and in the terrorist game, there are neither.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman's last film with him in a leading role, "A Most Wanted Man," is a low-key, post-9/11, espionage melodrama that director Anton Corbijn and scenarist Andrew Bovell adapted from British author John le Carré's bestselling novel. Lensed on location in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, this literate but slowly-paced genre piece piles up considerable atmosphere during its 122 minute running time. Unfortunately, Corbijn provides little in the way of tangible action. Indeed, "A Most Wanted Man" qualifies as the flip-side of Corbijn's earlier epic, "The American," with George Clooney who got to shoot adversaries and bed the ladies. Instead, people walk into and out of buildings, and bureaucrats sit around tables discussing cases. Hoffman belts an obnoxious individual in one scene that has nothing to do with the elaborate 'sting' plot involving an ultra-secret, street-level, German counter-terrorist organization out to trap a Muslim philanthropist. The big finale involves a multiple car crash. Hoffman plays a disillusioned German espionage officer who must produce results in 72 hours after a half-Chechen, half-Russian refugee, Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), tortured recently by the Russians, slips into Hamburg without a passport. Karpov convinces an ordinary, blue-collar family to house him after he performs an act of kindness to a woman who has too many grocers to tote him. Meantime, Günther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the clandestine squad with whom he struggles to uncover links to Islamic terrorist organizations by recruiting people within those organizations sets out to trap Dr. Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi) whom they suspect is funneling money to Al Qaeda. Eventually, the complicated but gritty plot involves a reluctant German banker, Tommy Brue (Willem Dafoe), and an idealistic immigration lawyer, Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), who wants to help Karpov. When Bachmann introduces himself to a surprised Brue, he says, ""I head an anti-terror unit that not many people know about and even less like." Essentially, this is an above-average, believable, slice-of-life, political thriller where nobody dies, but people wind up betraying everybody in sight. For the record, the Americans in the storyline are not very savory. Naturally, the paunchy Hoffman turns in a stellar performance while he smokes cigarettes galore.