Jon Hamm gives his best performance yet as, a smart, yet burnt-out U.S. diplomat set in the volatile Middle East in the 1980’s who is brought in by the CIA to negotiate a life/death situation 10 years later. This is a film rich with visuals showing place and time and how the warring factions, refused to stop annihilation of Lebanon.
Tony Gilroy (Bourne films, Rogue One, A Star Wars Story, Michael Clayton) wrote this script eons ago in 1992. Who knew it would be as relevant today! It took 26 years for this to come to fruition but it is well thought out and orchestrated by Director Brad Anderson(The Machinist, Transsiberian).
The beauty and opulence of Beirut, which was called the “Paris of the Middle East” had to be shot in Tangiers in Morocco by Cinematographer Bjorn Charpentier because the destruction has turned much of Beirut into piles of rubble in the continuing Lebanese civil war.
Hamm plays Mason Skiles. He and his Lebanese wife are hosting a lavish party for U.S. Congressmen with help from an adorable 13-year-old orphan refugee they have taken into their home. When Skiles’ wife is killed in a horrifying terrorist attack, Skiles packs it in, leaves for the States and becomes an insurance arbritrator, who drowns his depression in alcohol. In the film he is known as Kissinger’s well-respected darling who is smart but becomes damaged.
CIA honchos decide to coerce him into service to use his negotiation skills to try to save the man who was his best friend in Beirut, Cal played by Mark Pellegrino (TV’s Supernatural, Quantico). He has been taken hostage by terrorists and Skiles doesn’t want any part of it. He’s coerced and put with tough and well-trained female operative, Sandy Crowder (played by Rosamund Pike). She is assigned to guide him through dealing with the terrorists. Pike is better in this role than we saw her in Hostiles, and 7 Days in Entebbe this year. In those films, we thought her face of fear or far off stares became too constant. There is much more strength and depth here in this role.
Pike says she had to show that at this time in history, women had to be that much tougher and show they could keep cooler under pressure to compete with men. They were expertly trained as drivers who could out chase anyone, and use weapons as well as any man and she shows both well, still being soft-spoken 80’s era feminine.
Tension builds as Skiles makes right and wrong moves taking chances trying to get to his friend and make a deal that will save him. Does the CIA have another agenda at work here, not only politically but for other stakes? And the biggest complication is that the 13-year-old Skiles and his wife adopted has grown up to become a terrorist and one tough negotiator himself trying to get his even more bad-ass, terrorist brother back in a swap. Emotions run high.
The plot thickens and become increasingly tense. The script was originally titled “High Wire Act” and it is. Hamm is convincing, sweating it out as the flip has-been who kicks in with quick-thinking, negotiating skills. Skiles is put to the test and Hamm makes him very human, seating it out at every turn.
Gilroy has incorporated some surprise twists and turns that could’ve seemed contrived but are well executed to keep your attention. This film drives home the point that when the talking stops, the fighting starts. It’s not only believable, but illuminates that the same kind of terrorist threats and destruction are still going on today.
Bleecker Street 1 hour 49 minutes R
