A solid enough remake of a solid enough original (did it deserve to scoop Best Foreign Film over The White Ribbon and A Prophet?), this update doesn’t manage to shake loose the problems of the Argentinian thriller, however.
Ray Kasten (Ejiofor) and Jess Cobb (Roberts) are part of an FBI investigation team keeping tabs on a suspected sleeper cell operating out of a LA mosque as part of the crackdown on suspected terrorists after 9/11. When the body of a teenage girl is found in a dumpster next to the mosque the team fear that it might scare Reg’s (Kelly, House of Cards) mosque informant underground and so Ray and Jess swoop in to conduct a quiet investigation. However, the body turns out to be Jess’ daughter and Ray turns all his attention to finding the killer, while boss Morales (Alfred Molina) and case overseer Claire (Kidman), whom Ejiofor has a thing for, maintain that nothing should upset the investigation of the cell.
Thirteen years later and Ray. no longer with the bureau but still obsessed with finding Jess’ daughter’s killer, turns up in Claire’s (now a DA) office with a new lead. But Claire is reluctant to build up Jess’ hopes again, who has been a shadow of a person since…
It’s impossible not to compare and contrast with Juan José Campanella’s film and there are some changes – some good, some bad. A wonderful Ejiofor steps into the Ricardo Darin role with ease – his eyes haunted by desperation and guilt – but where Darin and Soledad Villamil (the Kidman role) enjoyed some flirty back and forth for an enjoyable romantic subplot, Ejiofor and Kidman are asked for more longing glances and strained silences. Roberts’ character was originally a man whose wife was murdered but the swap here allows a gaunt and pale Roberts deliver her best performance since Erin Brockovich. “You look a million years old,” Ejiofor tells her at one point.
The original’s centrepiece – that epic five-minute swooping shot that zooms down into a football stadium, over the players, up into the crowd and then down into the bowels of the stadium for a chase sequence in one awe-inspiring shot - doesn’t have nearly the same impact here; the switch to a baseball game setting is expected but the Hunger Games and Captain Phillips scribe is either hampered by budget or the wherewithal to attempt such an audacious shot and so cuts once his camera finds Ejiofor and partner Bumpy (Dean Norris, Breaking Bad). Disappointing.
Although content to make these cosmetic changes Billy Ray’s (Breach, Shattered Glass) remake doesn’t address the inherent niggling issues of the story. Major turning points rely on contrivance that stretch credibility (the ‘interview scene’ is still problematic), there’s only one suspect so there’s no real red herrings to make the audience second guess what’s up, and the constant cutting back and forth from 2015 to 2002 hampers momentum somewhat; makeup, hair and limps highlight the timeline shifts.
But like the original there’s always enough here to overlook its shortcomings and the twist is still as powerful.
