Traitor ***1/2

Cast: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, Jeff Daniels, Said Taghmaoui, Archie Panjabi
Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Running Length: 1:55
MPAA Classification: R

Samir Horn (Cheadle) is supplying detonators to an Islamic terrorist group when a FBI raid kills or captures everyone at the compound. FBI agents Roy Clayton (Pearce) and Max Archer (McDonough) take the survivors into custody. While in prison, Samir and the terrorist leader Omar (Taghmaoui) form a bond, and when Omar makes his escape, he takes Samir with him. Now, Samir is an inside man who can stop an major attack on U. S. soil. He is so deep undercover that only one person, Carter (Daniels) knows about him. Now, he must find a way to stop the attack and get out before it is too late.

“Traitor” is a top notch drama with some action sprinkled in. Don Cheadle is excellent as always as the conflicted Muslim who can stop a massacre. The story is timely and intelligent. A focus of the movie is the difference between fundamentalist Islam and the non-violent Islam. Cheadle’s Samir is of the non-violent type, and as violence becomes necessary, it is interesting to see his character deal with things. The supporting cast is also well-cast, playing characters that are more grey than black or white. I highly recommend “Traitor” and encourage checking it out.

Vantage Point **
Cast: Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, Edgar Ramirez, Said Taghmaoui, Ayelet Zurer, Sigourney Weaver
Director: Pete Travis
Running Length: 1:30
MPAA Classification: PG-13

At an anti-terrorism summit in Spain, an assassination attempt is made on President Ashton (Hurt). After the president is shot, chaos reigns. During the pandemonium, there is a distant explosion followed by one in the arena. Secret service agent Thomas Barnes (Quaid) must find the assassin before its too late.

The movie’s hook is that is shows the events from multiple points of view. First, through the eyes of a news broadcast, then through Barnes’ eyes. Next is a police officer’s (Noriega) point of view, a tourist’s (Whitaker), and then the President’s. There is backtracking to show perspectives from the same starting point, and each point of view takes the story a little further into the future.

“Vantage Point” has two large drawbacks. First, the very nature of the film reduces all the roles to extended cameos. None of the characters feel like the focus of the film, and none have any real development. Quaid and Hurt do what they can, but they aren’t given much to work with. The other problem is that for a movie built around the novelty of seeing the characters’ point of view, they abandon that approach in the last 30 minutes, reverting back to a “normal” movie. What does work is the level of intensity that is maintained through much of the film. There is enough action to make one forget about some of the absurdities of the plot as well. Overall, this was a movie that could have been better with some tweaking.