Tess and I went out to the movies tonight. Needed to sneak one more in, before we head out tomorrow to see about putting her on a boat to Hawaii.
We went and saw Traitor, because Sarah said to.
Sarah — good call.
Traitor is a modern day thriller. It stars Don Cheadle as Shamir, an America on the run with the bad guys and being chased by the FBI (Guy Pearce plays the lead FBI chaser). Shamir is Muslin, born in Yemen and at least for a while raised by his Muslim-cleric father, until his father is killed. He joined the military, went Special Forces, but after a stint in Afghanistan, got out and stayed on in Pakistan, having found his faith.
Cheadle is great in this movie. A bigger named star likely would have overpowered the “I could be anybody” aspect required of this role. He really does come across as just another guy, trying to do what he thinks is right in a world where everything is complicated. Guy Pearce also carries off the I could be anybody” role as well, as a well educated FBI agent who is also the son of a cleric, this time a Baptist preacher.
And I think I was the only guy in the theater who laughed at Jeff Daniels at the wrong time. Daniels does a good job as a truly anonymous intel guy going “all in” in the war on terrorism. He really does come of sounding the same as the terrorists in this film, with the at-any-cost approach to winning.
This movie reminded me of Sleeper Cell, a Showtime short series (two short seasons, actually) that I just finished watching . Great, great series — see if your library has it or can get it for you.
Both Sleeper Cell and Traitor are worth watching, now more than ever with the elections coming up.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
So glad you had a chance to see it….Tess looks a little lonely….