Closed Circuit (2013)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

good back-story, and good acting

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

When I waste time like this, I always rush to the "Hated it" reviews to bathe it the warmth of shared derision. But this time MY GOD PEOPLE! no wonder you believe Hillary kills people!? The problem with this movie is not the acting or pacing or cinematography or romance based on home-wrecking. It's the utterly silly setup. For reasons that are unclear the establishment is bent on conducting a show trial, with a culprit/victim who for reasons that are unclear is willing to go along with it, perhaps because his family for reasons that are unclear wants him to. So they manipulate things to assign a couple of compromised defense lawyers to handle the public and in camera portions of the trial. But the lawyers press on so the secret service starts murdering people to avoid some horrifically inept bungling coming to light... Um okay. Turns out 1 in 10 Brits is a member of MI5, so there is no need for CCTV, which doesn't play any part despite the would be eponymous title. This reaches a climax when our heroes must escort a teenage witness to the court. For no reason they seem to think the court is some kind of magic sanctuary... Anyway, this gut wrenching sequence plays out by the protagonists shouting "Hey look over there!" then walking to the courthouse. Where upon MI5 figures out the obvious solution and the movie thankfully ends. Er except for a coda with the lawyers acting like the sluts they are...

I have just seen this film for the first time, having missed it earlier. The film begins with a dramatic terrorist attack on Borough Market in London, involving a large van. As we all know, a dramatic terrorist attack on Borough market involving a large van subsequently took place. Copy cat? Inspired by an idea of? Coincidence? Psychic prophecy? We will never know. The film is very well directed, with excellent performances, and the pace never fails, as the tension is wound tighter and tighter. The terrorist attack really only sets the scene for the story which follows, which is entirely concerned with corruption within the British security services and what currently passes for 'the British justice system', a system which degenerates by the day. The story features a revoltingly corrupted Attorney General, which comes as no surprise, since I can think of a past one. John Broadbent is suitably menacing in that role, his eyes bulging with a terminally compromised personal morality. But the main target of the film is the establishment of the secret courts which have been instituted in Britain today, and which include not only the security courts such as the one shown in this film, but even the Court of Protection, in which invalids and children have their fates decided in secret, with their relatives being excluded from the process. My view is plain: there is no place for secrecy in the justice system, since as soon as the system ceases to be transparent, corruption and abuse are inevitable. This film is about such abuse. A young Turkish man with the unfortunate name of Erdogan (this film seems to have foreseen perhaps too much!) is accused of being the mastermind of the London terrorist attack. However, it transpires that he was all along an agent for the British security services, but he has been framed by them to cover up their mammoth cock-up which resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people. The terrifyingly icy security head is played by Anne-Marie Duff, who will just as soon kill you as look at you, and frequently does so. The horrifying 'secret justice' (or should I say secret injustice?) laid on by the officials is shown in minute detail, and everyone is under surveillance all the time. Welcome to modern Britain! Erdogan's previous defence attorney has 'committed suicide by jumping from a roof', but we later learn that he was murdered because he discovered too much. An American journalist is also murdered because she discovers too much. And that leaves the two remaining lawyers, played by Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall. They naively commence their duties, only to discover that the whole process is a sham, that Erdogan is a patsy, and people who interfere in the plan keep getting killed. Attempts are made to murder both of them. They keep trying to fight the corruption, but they are out-manouevred at every turn because of informers and intensive surveillance. Can those fearless fighters for justice get anywhere in their David and Goliath struggle? Or will the System crush them, and indeed succeed in killing one or both of them? But one thing is for sure, the British 'justice system' will continue to become increasingly corrupted, since once the rot sets it, it is terminal unless someone courageous and true steps forward to put a stop to it. But I see no signs of such a person at the moment. Waiting for someone to save the British justice system seems about as hopeless a cause as waiting for Elvis to return from the dead and sing 'Blue Suede Shoes' live at Wembley Stadium. John Crowley has done a superb job of directing this gripping thriller, and all his cast have done just as well as he, to produce a cautionary film for our time, which deserves as wide an audience as possible.

This movie starts out with some promise, but rapidly deteriorates into a very formulaic and lazily-written attempt to ride the bandwagon of the war on terrorism and conspiracy theories. MI5 freely murders people left right and centre and in plain view to avoid embarrassment. You can spot the hidden baddies a mile off and Jim Broadbent is terribly miscast as the sinister Attorney General. The MI5 boss should never play Poker as her face contorts and she stutters whenever she is asked an awkward question. MI5 sends a single ham-fisted killer to take out an unarmed woman and fails. The security services rely on a teenage boy with a USB stick who apparently has more computer skills than all their specialists. There is zero chemistry between Bana and Hall - which probably explains why they don't end up in bed together (that fact is actually one of the strong points of the storyline). This is a shorthand, rushed and clumsy story,and the (usually strong) cast struggle to make anything of it. Such a waste of time and I'll bet the writer knew it when he handed it in.

It's a fine movie. I personally liked the portrayal of the hardships we experience on providing due process when the facts involve terrorism - I don't know why, but people seem to forget they too deserve a fair trial for their actions. It also gives the viewer a glimpse of the mechanisms of a judiciary system. I liked the very fact that this time, the judge is not the bad guy stomping on the truth with his power. He was trying to get the facts and reach a reasonable decision, he was trying to serve justice (weren't they all?). In most movies, the power hungry lunatic killing everyone in the name of his secrets is always the judge. That's a very unfair portrayal. Must judges are pretty out of the so-called loop of power sit on their benches just doing their jobs, giving back to their community. Another thing I liked (a lot): it doesn't have a happy ending. It has a human ending, a plausible one. Something we can relate to (and for some, it even fuels up that "I'll save the world" feeling). I found it a good thriller and was very surprised to see it had little to none promotion. We have some many meh flicks these days... And a movie as nice as this one, is kept in the shadows. Go figure. The acting is delicious - Bana held his own as a Brit! Congrats. And it felt soooooooo good to see the Queen again. Anne-Marie Duff is always a sight to sore eyes on screen (and till this day I secretly wish she was in Game of Thrones or played the very last Doctor on BBC, that would be marvelous). Julia Stiles felt a bit underused here. I wish she was more like Denzel on "The Pelican Brief". Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent, as always, impeccable. And did anyone see little Bran here? Isaac H. Wright is Bana's son - the cinematography is AWESOME, the story feels well written and tight, the pacing keeps you on your edge. I enjoyed the flick very much.