On the latest episode of Reel Reviews, a pair of former legal lovers are reunited for a high-profile national terrorism trial that puts their reputations on the line—and their lives as well—in the thriller Closed Circuit.
Audio Review
Following a mysterious explosion in a busy London market, the police swoop in, a suspect is detained, and the country prepares for one of the most high-profile trials in British history. Two exceptional lawyers with a romantic past step into a dangerous web of secrets and lies, and when evidence points to a possible British Secret Service cover-up, it’s not just their reputations but their lives that are at stake.
Directed by John Crowley and written by Steven Knight, the film stars Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, and Riz Ahmed.
From the people who brought you Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Closed Circuit has several good things going for it from its attractive leading cast including Bana and Hall, solid supporting performances from Hinds, Ahmed and most notably, Broadbent. The problem with the film is the slow, plodding pace that the story employs that only worked with Tinker because of its extraordinary cast but to a lesser degree here.
In trying to gauge the characters’ motivations, Crowley, who directed, About A Boy, lacks the emotional connect between the lead characters in this film that worked in his earlier effort. An earlier film this year that played at FilmFest DC, Paris Under Watch, had elements of this plot that I felt were executed if not better with at least more interesting results. Closed Circuit is a movie for cinephiles that will bore some as much as it thrills others.
Grade: C
this movie was slooow and dry. it wasn’t bad, but it would have been better if there had been some real action. i’m glad i saw it though cause it really helps to keep one aware of the “real” world.