Beirut

I believe that Hollywood has such a fascination with espionage films, because they have a tendency to allow the audience to escape into a situation whereas they can put their problems into neutral and go to another place and time in order to continue with their lives after the end credits roll. To add to that ever growing list is that of "Beirut".

 

A U.S diplomat, Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) flees Lebanon in 1972 after a tragic incident at his home. Ten years later, he is called back to war-torn Beirut by CIA operatives, Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike), Donald Gaines (Dean Norris), Gary Ruzak (Shea Whigham) and Frank Whalen (Larry Pine). After being caught in the crossfires of civil war, the operatives must send Skiles back into service to save a colleague, Cal (Mark Pellegrino) from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, Crowder, who is also a field agent, is working under cover at the American Embassy in order to keep Skiles alive and ensuring that the mission is a success.

 

Others to round out the cast are Jonny Coyne as Bernard Teppler, Douglas Hodge as Sully, Leila Bekhti as Nadia, Kate Fleetwood as Alice, Alon Aboutboul as Roni Niv, and Idir Chender as Karim.

 

This was grittily directed by Brad Anderson ("Next Stop Wonderland" '98, "Session 9" '01, "The Machinist" '04, "Transsiberian" '08, "The Call" '13, "Stonehearst Asylum" '14, "Home"  (TV movie) '16) plus others and TV. This filmmaker definitely has the ability to put his actors in situations where the emotions they emit showcase their talents. Look at the films of his resume and you'll see this in spades. He has a ton of work either announced or in pre-production in the works indicating this guy is amazingly busy. It was written by seasoned, veteran Tony Gilroy ("Dolores Claiborne" '95, "Armageddon" '98, "The Bourne Identity" '02, "The Bourne Supremacy" '04, "The Bourne Ultimatum" '07, "Duplicity" '09, "The Bourne Legacy" '12, "The Great Wall" '16) plus others. This writer has proved himself time and again as a great political/espionage writer of so many amazing films, however this story jumped around a bit. Mind you, this was still a completely solid storyline, but this isn't the best screenplay I've seen this writer create--it's like he raised the bar too high against himself. What actually makes this is the performance by Hamm. He was incredibly real, riveting and absorbed in his character. It has some twists and turns which makes it worth the price of admission.

 

If political/espionage films are your liking, this movie will serve you well, but even if you're not, the performances and the true story in which this is based will be enough to fulfill your choice of going to the multiplex.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                 Rated: R                                     110mins.