Movie Review: Traitor

Chris Hewitt - Saint Paul Pioneer Press

Traitor - ***

"The truth is complicated," says Don Cheadle in "Traitor." He said a mouthful.

It's especially complicated in "Traitor," a political thriller in which Cheadle plays Samir, an American Muslim who becomes involved with a terrorist group while imprisoned in Yemen. We see Samir do terrible things, but the affable Cheadle helps us understand what Samir does, and as "Traitor" cross-cuts between him and a pair of FBI agents (Guy Pearce, Neil McDonough), our assumptions about the characters are frequently challenged. ("Traitor" is not as good a movie as Pearce's "L.A. Confidential," but it does something similar with the three main characters, who represent varying degrees of morality and cultural sensitivity.)

Not to keep mentioning "L.A. Confidential," since "Traitor" is grittier and not as pulpy or fun, but the new movie also contains elements of a police corruption thriller, with criminals and cops whose motivations put them squarely in shades-of-gray territory.

"Traitor" works its gray area cleverly and a little sickeningly, because terrorism adds a new element to the mix. The bad guys are legion in "Traitor," and the movie exploits our paranoia -- or maybe, terrornoia -- by showing us that terrorists not only live in America but they also are enrolled in our graduate school courses, accessing our personal files at their government jobs and mowing the emerald-green lawn next door.

"Traitor" falls somewhere between the run of recent movies that tried

to understand why some turn to terrorism and movies that suggest U.S. policies may have added fuel to the fire of terrorism. That neither-this-nor-that quality is what makes "Traitor" good but not great. Director Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who wrote the screenplay with Steve Martin (yup, the funny one), can't hide the flaw at the spot where the two kinds of movies join together. As a result, the movie's structure is thrown off, and Nachmanoff is forced to spoil a crucial surprise that would have been more effective if he could have held onto it longer.

Nachmanoff steers the movie back on course pretty quickly, though, weaving in an intelligent subtext that is respectful of all religions while not condoning extremists of any stripe. "Every religion has more than one face," says Samir, and "Traitor" ends with a plea for compassion that provides a glimpse at the face of Islam, a religion too few of us have bothered to understand.

Traitor 

Three Stars

Directed by: Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce

Rated: R, for bloody violence and strong language  

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