Traitor (2008)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jeffrey Nachmanoff

Writers (WGA):

Jeffrey Nachmanoff (screenplay)
Steve Martin (story) ...

Release Date:

27 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The truth is complicated.

Plot:

When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Bomb | FBI | FBI Agent | Semtex

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Don Cheadle	...	Samir Horn
Guy Pearce	...	Roy Clayton
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Omar
Neal McDonough	...	Max Archer
Alyy Khan	...	Fareed Mansour
Archie Panjabi	...	Chandra Dawkin
Raad Rawi	...	Nathir
Hassam Ghancy	...	Bashir
Mozhan Marnò	...	Leyla
Adeel Akhtar	...	Hamzi
Jeff Daniels	...	Carter
Lorena Gale	...	Dierdre Horn
Scali Delpeyrat	...	Inspector Gilles
Mehdi Ortelsberg	...	Ali
Aizoun Abdelkader	...	Ahmed

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44487) | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Singapore:M18 | Germany:12 | Czech Republic:15 | Norway:15 | Finland:K-13 | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Overture Films

Trivia:

The film was initially set up at Touchstone Pictures in 2002 but was put in turnaround following management change at The Walt Disney Company (which owns Touchstone) until it was picked up by Don Cheadle and Overture Films.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the FBI agent is talking to Deirdre Horn in the restaurant, a menu sign in the background lists an item as "chicken diner'. It should be "chicken dinner".

Quotes:

Roy Clayton: [last lines - peace greeting] Al-Salamu Alaykum.
Samir Horn: Alaykum Al-Salaam. And you should *start* the conversation with that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: (2008-11-05)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Laisse-Toi Aller

Very Involving Thinking-Person's Story & Great Acting

This was an excellent movie, a very intriguing and topical story involving terrorism with the basic message that there are good and bad people everywhere, of all races, religions, sects, whatever. The question in this film, for at least half of the movie, is: "Is Samir (Don Cheadle) a good guy or a bad guy?"

I don't want to say too much in fear of spoiling anything because that could easily be done while discussing this film. Suffice to say that this will keep your interest for the full running time and is a thinking person's movie more than most.

Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, Said Taghmaoui and Alyy Kahn are all fantastic in the lead roles. The direction and photography also is top-notch. Those who pick apart this movie are nit-picking because it's a very entertaining film while not overdoing the action or the stereotypical characters.

One thing that's odd about this film: it has very strong statements which will please both liberals and conservatives, both devoutly religious folks and atheists. It pretty much covers the field.