A Most Wanted Man

A word of caution. It took three viewings of 'A Most Wanted Man' for me to understand and fully appreciate the film. It's the film adaptation of the John LeCarre spy novel and, like many of his stories, it's many layered, many charactered. In short, very complicated, to say the least.

Here's the story. There are two events being monitored by a team of German Intelligence Agents in present day Hamburg, a team led by Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Gunther. (1) An Arab doctor living in Hamburg may be sending money to a terrorist organization; money given to the doctor supposedly for charitable purposes. (2) A young Chechyn man has come to Hamburg to claim his dead father's fortune; he is Muslim and, as such, has been tortured by the Russians. The German Intelligence agents have devised a way to bring the two men together and somehow halt the money's being forwarded to terrorists.

As this is LeCarre, nothing remains that simple. There are American Agents afoot with their own objectives. There are German Police Officials with plans of their own. There is a naive German Attorney (Rachel McAdams) looking out for the Chechyn's interests, and a banker (Willem DeFoe) who is necessary to bring the two men together.

Hoffman is the heart of the film. His Gunther is a hard drinking, chain smoking, overweight and overwrought loner. He is playing the 'long game'. Rather than rushing in and arresting everyone and anyone who might be related to terrorists, he wants to discover exactly how the money get transferred and to whom. He is looking to take down whoever sits at the very top of the terrorist pyramid.

The question is, Will he? Will he have the time to do it?

That's what the film's about, and it's definitely a worthwhile subject. And a worthwhile viewing.

About Hoffman? A great loss. If you doubt it, I say, see this film.

This film is all about how bureaucracy works. How the spy agencies tackle and deal with problems that arise. Different agencies have different and sometimes contrasting ways to deal with the same problem and this leads to a dilemma which I think is the main theme of the film. The movie addresses the question of whether it is better to come up with the quick solution by nabbing the ordinary low-lives who become terrorists by getting influenced by others or is it worth the patience to let them do what they are supposed to in order to get to the real bosses and masterminds and get to a solution that is more significant and I think it addresses it brilliantly. The director develops a very tensed atmosphere throughout the entire film and never succumbs to the pressure of coming up with flashy over the top action sequences and the screenplay is very realistic. Now let's come to the acting. There are many supporting actors like Rachel Mcadams, Willem Dafoe,etc who are good. But this film is Philip Seymour Hoffman's vehicle. He is stupendously brilliant as he always was throughout his career. This film allows him to go out with a bang and show the world why he was one of the greatest. He plays a character who is a chain smoker and who uses this addiction to hide from the failures and struggles of his past career. Hoffman never puts a foot wrong. While the film was more or less brilliant, there were one or two minor scenes which seemed slightly unrealistic and Rachel Mcadams' German accent was sort of on again off again. But apart from these I can't find any flaws. Some people who want every spy thriller to be like James Bond have called this boring, but for people who like gritty,realistic stories about spies and national security, this will be a rewarding experience.

Greetings again from the darkness. If you aren't an avid reader of John le Carre' spy novels, perhaps you've seen movie versions such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Constant Gardener, or The Russia House. If not, how about director Anton Corbijn's previous film The Amercian (2010 with George Clooney)? The more you've read and seen these, the more you are prepared for this latest.

Mr. le Carre' actually was part of MI5 and MI6 (British Intelligence) and uses his experience even so many years ago to provide the type of post 9/11 anti-terrorism spy thriller that doesn't focus on explosions and gun play, but rather the subtleties of communication when very smart people go up against other very smart people who may or may not share their goals. Secrets and misdirection abound. Traps are set, and sly maneuverings are pre-planned.

As if all that weren't enough, how about another mesmerizing performance from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman? He is a master at the top of his craft here. Sure, maybe the German accent is a bit distracting at first, but it was necessary because movie audiences needed a constant reminder that he is not playing an American! I cannot explain how this chain-smoking, mumbling schlub can so dominate a scene and disappear into a character, but Hoffman most certainly does both.

In addition to a very cool script, excellent support work comes from Grigor Dobrygin as Issa, the central figure in Hoffman's character's work, Willem Dafoe as a somewhat shady banker, as well as Robin Wright, Daniel Bruhl, Nina Hoss, Homayoun Ershadi, and Rainer Bock. The only miscast is Rachel McAdams as rich girl turned terrorist sympathizer.

Parts of the score were excellent - the droning, ominous piano notes. The composer was Herbert Gronemeyer, a German rock star (you'd never know from the score). This is a delicious, challenging look at international spies and how one never knows where they fall on the food chain ... minnow, barracuda, shark. http://moviereviewsfromthedark.com/

A Most Wanted Man (2014) was directed by Anton Corbijn. It's based on a novel by John le Carré. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman. Basically, that's all you need to know about this movie.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is Günther Bachmann, a self-described spy. (Actually a counter-intelligence agent.) He's involved with a Chechen immigrant who has been tortured. There's money going from Hamburg to terrorists, but no one knows how this money gets there. Somehow the Chechen is involved. On and on it goes, with the German police opposing Günther, the CIA opposing Günther, and everyone betraying everyone else.

Günther is burned out and, essentially, has no life other than being a spy. As far as we can see, he never takes time off, he is interested in nothing other than work, and he has no friends and no colleagues he can trust. Hoffman portrays this part perfectly. No one could have done it as well.

A Most Wanted Man is pure Carré, and pure Hoffman, and that's why you should see it. If you're not impressed with Carré, or not impressed with Hoffman, there's no point going to the film.

We saw the movie on the large screen at the wonderful Dryden Theatre in Rochester, NY. However, it will work just as well on the small screen. No scuba shots, no mountain skiing shots--this isn't James Bond. If you know what to expect--gritty shots of Hamburg, Germany--you won't be disappointed, and the movie will work for you.

Anton Corbijn's third feature is a solemn thriller that connects topical geo-social politics with the mundanity of everyday spycraft. It occupies the same brown-drenched bureaucratic landscape as an earlier John Le Carre adaptation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. But while Tomas Alfredson's film was all about its dreary '70s setting, A Most Wanted Man brings the dreariness into the realm of post-9/11 (or 11/09, to give it a region-appropriate designation).

The plot is typically detailed and dense. Not so much twisty as, well, untrusting. A young Chechen man named Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) washes up in Hamburg, seeking asylum. He's an illegal immigrant promised a vast sum of dirty money by his late father. It's money he doesn't want. Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his espionage team, via an idealistic lawyer (Rachel McAdams), arrange for Karpov to donate the inheritance to a high-profile Muslim philanthropist, in order to entrap the latter as he siphons the funds into a terrorist organisation. Naturally, things get messy, and the movie spends most of its time in a very grey area indeed.

After Control and The American, Corbijn is exploring another talented, troubled man, adrift and alone in a thankless world. The film belongs to Seymour Hoffman, transforming yet again, embodying the chain-smoking, coffee-spiking, yet professional spy at the story's heart. We know few facts about Bachmann, yet we feel like we know him (which is perhaps the definition of a great screen character). He's taciturn and monotone; haggard and stooped yet quietly confident, as if he's seen it all and won enough times to keep going. Just.

So, it's an actor's movie. Robin Wright revels in a snaky supporting role, representing the brutal pragmatism of the U.S., and Rachel McAdams makes the most of a gruelling role as a woman trying to do good in a world that rewards evil equally often.

Corbijn's film doesn't give away the magician's tricks – we are usually one step behind Gunther and his crew, watching as their plans unfold and succeed or fail before our eyes. It keeps the narrative ticking along, albeit slowly.

The pace isn't my main problem – it's the insufficient sense of danger. I don't think this is to do with the lack of car chases or scarily efficient murders. What's lacking is the shadow of imminent loss. A better film starring Seymour Hoffman such as The Ides of March managed this, so why not A Most Wanted Man? Perhaps it's more generic than it first appears. I mean, once the main players are introduced, it's fairly predictable how things will turn out; who the real bad guys will be. It feels like there's a killer moment – a scene of real cinematic distinction – missing from the movie.

And what about Karpov? I never got a handle on his plight. I was never moved by his agonising principles. It's as if Corbijn is so focused on nailing the minutiae of espionage that he forgot about the subtleties of the heart.

Slow, precise, atmospheric – all good things, although this is less emotionally involving than Control and not as bold and distinctive as The American. It's a mature, well-written, ensemble film, but one which lacks the oppressive dread and nail-biting urgency to be truly memorable.

We will, however, remember its supremely talented star. In the final shot, we realise how appropriate a swansong this is for the great, big man: understated, ambiguous, and secretly sad.