DVD Reviews

Traitor – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Dec 19, 2008, 11:15 GMT

Academy Award® nominee Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Crash) and Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential) star in Traitor, a taut international thriller set against a puzzle of covert counter-espionage operations. When straight-arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton (Pearce) investigates a dangerous international conspiracy responsible for a prison break in Yemen, a bombing in Nice and a raid in London, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir ...more

“Become like your enemy to deceive your enemy.”

Don Cheadle stars in this thriller about a man that finds himself in the middle of an undercover war. FBI agent Guy Pearce pursues him doggedly, but things may not be as they appear. The problem is that we’ve seen this sort of thriller before and some of the turns

Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) is a Sudanese man visiting his friend Ahmed (Aizoun Abdelkader). He’s come to sell him some Semtex explosive. The Sudanese police bust into the room along with FBI agents Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Archer (Neal McDonough).

He and Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui), who was also in Ahmed’s house, are captured and Ahmed is killed. The agents try to get Samir to turn on the rest of the group; he refuses, and goes to prison. In prison, he and Omar become fast friends and when Omar escapes he takes Samir with him. Samir then goes with Omar to Paris and begins to help Omar with his terrorist mission.

Back in the states agents Clayton and Archer learn through a failed suicide bomber that a major terrorist attack is in the works. They take their fears to a committee that has Carter (Jeff Daniels) on it. He had a confidential source that was feeding him info but he’s gone silent and may have even gone over to the other side. It’s not hard to predict who Carter’s undercover informant is. That might be part of the problem of the film is its predictability.

Traitor is based on a story idea by Steve Martin; yes THAT Steve Martin (who also executive produces the film). Our wild and crazy guy is now thinking up thriller ideas. Well, anything beats those Pink Panther movies.

As I said before, some of the turns that the movie takes are clearly telegraphed. I could tell what was up with Samir from the trailer. Even though Samir’s tale doesn’t offer too many surprises there are some good action sequences and fine performances that keep it worth watching.

Don Cheadle does quite well as the man whose religious beliefs conflict with his “mission.” Guy Pearce is also good as the agent who is pursuing Samir. I guess the problem is that in today’s world we hear about terrorist attacks far too much and perhaps it may be a subject far too close to reality for this film.

It’s somewhat chilling to hear the planners talk about wanting to make no American feel safe in their own country. The film does jot around the globe and there are some nice international locations. It all comes down to the wonderful performances, but the subject matter might not set will with some.

Traitor is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. This is a bit of a traitorous act as the film was shot in 2.40:1 and the beginning of the film cautions that this film has been formatted to fit your screen.

The Blu-ray appears to be presented in the original aspect ration, so DVD owners wanting it in the proper ratio will have to either do without or get a Blu-ray player. I’m not too sure why it was released this way.

Special features include an audio commentary with director/writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Don Cheadle. The 4-minute “Action!” looks at the stunts in the film and the 5-minute “International Espionage” looks at the exotic locales the film was shot in. There’s also a play all button so you can just watch them in one lump. You also get the film’s 2-minute theatrical trailer and previews of other Anchor Bay DVDs.

Traitor is a decent thriller, but it might’ve been better handled by a seasoned director and not a newcomer. However, there are some fine performances by the leads in the film and that makes it well worth seeing.