Closed Circuit

Periodically Hollywood becomes fascinated with conspiracy films; we can see them in our past--"Conspiracy Theory" '97, "Munich" '05, "The Conspiracy" '12, and scads of others. They make great fodder for suspense thrillers pitting an individual or a few people against 'the system'. We now have another conspiracy nail-biter in a film titled "Closed Circuit".

A terrorist attack in London results in the capture of suspect Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto). The Attorney General (Jim Broadbent) appoints Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall) as special advocate on Erdogan's legal team. On the eve of the trial, Erdogan's attorney dies, and a new defense attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana) steps in. Martin and Claudia are former lovers, a fact which must remain hidden. As Martin assembles his case, he and Claudia uncover a sinister and evil conspiracy, placing them both in incredible danger. What is this conspiracy and how can it jeopardize people's lives?

Others to round out the cast are Ciaran Hinds as Devlin, part of Erdogan's legal team, Riz Ahmed as Nazrul Sharma, Anne-Marie Duff as Melissa, head of security, Kenneth Cranham as Cameron Fischer, Julia Stiles as Joanna Reece, Pinar Ogun as Ilkay Erdogan, Hasancan Cifci as Emir Erdogan, James Lowe as Simon Fellowes, the attorney that dies, and Andrew Havill as News Reporter 1.

This was effectively directed by John Crowley ("Intermission" '03, "Celabration" (TV movie) '07, "Boy A" '07, "Is Anybody There?" '08). The pacing was a little off, especially closer to the beginning like these actors had a problem 'being there'. This was adequately written by Steven Knight ("Frankie Howerd on Campus" (TV movie) '90, "Carrott U Like" (TV movie) '94, "Gypsy Woman" '01, "Dirty Pretty Things" '02, "Amazing Grace" '06, "Eastern Promises" '07, "Redemption" '13). Considering this only has a running time of 96 minutes, this does take some time to accelerate, but once it does, it becomes the thriller you paid admission to see. You just need to be patient with this suspense thriller otherwise its pace will have you wanting to walk, and the chemistry between Bana and Hall could have been a little more cohesive to boot.

As said prior, this starts slow, builds slow, and then takes off, and if your genre is the suspense/thriller one, this will fit the bill as long as you crank up your patience quotient.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                      Rated: R                       96mins.