Rendition (2007)

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Directed by Gavin Hood.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, Omar Metwally.

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The director of the Academy Award-winning 2006 crime drama Tsotsi returns to the helm with this tale of a Middle East CIA operative who begins to have doubts about his latest assignment after witnessing the interrogation of a suspected suicide bomber by secret police. Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and Reese Witherspoon star in a film penned by Kelley Sane and produced by Steve Golin. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Great Story, Bad Editing
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

lost interest.

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"I'd say it's mostly the languid pace that began to kill this film for me, because the performances are all top notch. Even the story is well written, with my only gripe being *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Fatima's story line, which takes place in the past, but for dramatic tension, this is not revealed until the denoument, which as I just stated in my review of "The Usual Suspects" manipulative and contrived (Suspects NOT falling into that category, fortunately). I genuinely felt annoyed that everything up to that point had been told to mislead me and make me feel more emotion at the end. There are also a number of plot holes (who DID make that phone call?) which, in my opinion, are hard to ignore. Hmph. I guess I expected more from Tsotsi's director. And now I hear he's doing the "Wolverine" movie...Hollywood. Another one bites the dust, as they say. " [More]

Effective political thriller
by Mully in Mully Blog

liked it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"This very decent political thriller deals with the process of 'extraordinary rendition', the transfer by the CIA of suspected terrorists to prisons abroad so that they can be held and tortured without trial or legal representation. Much like films such as Crash, Syriana or Babel, this subject matter is approached through different intertwining storylines. The film is most effective in conveying its message and some scenes are quite confrontational and shocking. The all-star cast is quite good, but not all that well-used as some characters end up getting an awfully small amount of screen-time. Rendition is not the kind of movie I'm planning on giving a second viewing, but a recommendation nonetheless. " [More]

Rendition is Almost Extraordinary
by dj4our in dj4our Blog

liked it.

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"RENDITION (2007) *** R for torture/violence and language.2 hrs. & 2 min.written by: Kelley Saneproduced by: Steve Gollindirected by: Gavin Hood2007 just might be the year of a cinematic political siege. With all the movies released this year about the war on Iraq, politics post-9/11 as well as the physical and psychological after effects, you'd think that movie studios are satisfying audience demand for such films. Unfortunately, for these films, the box office results are showing that's not the case. People are not flocking to movies like "A Mighty Heart", "The Kingdom" or "In the Valley of Elah" and it doesn't matter what critics say about them. They just aren't finding audience like a Tyler Perry movie or "The Game Plan" is. Maybe it's due to the incessant barrage of war and politics the media serve viewers and readers, that make them opt for films that will have more of an escapism feel. Since I don't pay much ... " [More]

Lions for Lambs brings out poli ...
by lopezdash in The Movie Blog

loved it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts over at the Washington Post are reporting that the Washington premiere of Lions for Lambs was a veritable who's who of Hollywood and DC insiders. In addition to stars Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, and his wife Katie Holmes, DC insiders in attendance included "Dan Snyder, Madeleine Albright, Ted Leonsis, Lynda carter, George Stephanopoulos, David Gregory and a bunch of congressfolk..." events I'm very much looking forward to "Lions for Lambs" and am intrigued by the way Hollywood is interfacing with (and portraying) a post-9/11 world. For many years following the attacks, references to 9/11 or to terrorism were simply not allowed and did not appear in mainstream US cinema. The past couple of years (particularly since the release of World Trade Center and United 93) have seen a growing interest in film that is critical of US foreign policy in the Middle East, and the war on terrorism. My theory on this, and please tell ... " [More]

How Can You Fight When They Mak ...
by erico_77375 in erico_77375 Blog

liked it.

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"I was handcuffed once by a police officer who wanted to search me for something that he never made very clear. It was two in the morning, I was tired and hungry after putting a hard day’s work, and I complied. He would let me go after five minutes of searching without even so much as an apology. To him, it was perfectly fine to detain someone without even the slightest shred of just cause beside the fact that I was in the wrong place and the wrong time. Does this make him bad? I don’t think so, he’s doing a job and prudence comes along with it. But does it make what he did right, either?That’s what I think is at the heart of Rendition, the new film by Academy-Award winner Gavin Hood. The film’s primary concern is about Extraordinary Rendition, a US law passed by former President Clinton that has been a major backbone in the foreign policy of current President Bush in his “war on terror”. It involves the detaining of people with possible lin ... " [More]

will leave you wanting to talk
by laraemeadows in laraemeadows Blog

loved it.

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"Rendition is about the post-9/11 American torture practices and shocks the audience into facing the truth of what their fear created, both home and abroad. Rendition made me ashamed to be associated, even by nationality, to those people who voted for, or support the Patriot Act. A terrorist bombing rips through a crowded market street in the morning in an attempt to kill a middle-eastern official Igal Noar (Abasi Fawal). They miss the official but it sets in motion a series of events which leads to Anwar El-Ibrahimi being kidnapped and taken to be tortured. Personally invested and morally conflicted, CIA analyist Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) is brought in to observe the “extreme interrogation techniques” approved by Corinne Whitman (Meryl Streep) and inflicted upon the detainee, who may have information on the bombing. Anwar’s wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon), sets out on a mission to find her husband by contacting her old friend, Alan Smith (Peter Sa ... " [More]

Tags: intelligence-community , humanity , husband , government , extradition
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