This is a tight political spy thriller, and a good one, with Leonardo di Caprio as the agent on the ground, caught between his CIA boss and Jordanian intelligence, whilst trying to capture a muslim extremist, they get the guy in the end, but only after a bit of using and double-dealing, with Leonardo getting a bit of punishment and falling for a local girl.
The film is well made, well to a point, the direction is good, the action is ok, dialogue is spot on, the locations are believable, etc. But there is a slight problem, and it is one I may have mentioned before, the close-up shots, Ridley Scott is a fine director, several of his other films are excellent, but his close-ups (or ultra close-ups) are a bit annoying, it would make a better film if wider angles were used, its hard for the audience to see what's going on around, and this is important. Mostly because its annoying, and you want people to pay money to see this film, so making it annoying is not a good way of doing it.
Other than that it was very good, Leonardo was excellent, Crowe was good, and Mark Strong was his usual cool and prim persona.
The close -ups camera shots are a modern trait in film-making, and I don't think they are good, a few perhaps, but not loads, throughout the entire film, which gradually erodes everything else that is good about it. This is why this style will not make films as good as they used to be, like in the 1960's, when they did not have this style, well not much anyway. I wish they would stop it and then we can have better films.
I would have given this fil 8 stars, but I have to knock one off for all the close-ups.
The film is well made, well to a point, the direction is good, the action is ok, dialogue is spot on, the locations are believable, etc. But there is a slight problem, and it is one I may have mentioned before, the close-up shots, Ridley Scott is a fine director, several of his other films are excellent, but his close-ups (or ultra close-ups) are a bit annoying, it would make a better film if wider angles were used, its hard for the audience to see what's going on around, and this is important. Mostly because its annoying, and you want people to pay money to see this film, so making it annoying is not a good way of doing it.
Other than that it was very good, Leonardo was excellent, Crowe was good, and Mark Strong was his usual cool and prim persona.
The close -ups camera shots are a modern trait in film-making, and I don't think they are good, a few perhaps, but not loads, throughout the entire film, which gradually erodes everything else that is good about it. This is why this style will not make films as good as they used to be, like in the 1960's, when they did not have this style, well not much anyway. I wish they would stop it and then we can have better films.
I would have given this fil 8 stars, but I have to knock one off for all the close-ups.