Review: The Debt (2011)

Starring:
                  Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Marton Csokas, Jesper Christensen and Romi Aboulafia.

Directed By:
                         John Madden.


Review:
                I was looking forward to watch this movie back then because it looked interesting to me, i really feel some weird anticipation for these espionage thrillers. This movie was quite delayed but released finally last year and i saw it a few weeks back. It didn't turned out quite classy or a perfectly structured thriller movie but it surely was a good watch and nice time to spend. This movie has some twist that are worth looking to and the end which may or may not completely spoil your mood but overall it just was a worthy entry into this genre which surely need movies like these to survive. Now the story follows time shifting, back in 1966, Mossad agent Rachel Singer played by Jessica Chastain meets her fellow agents David Peretz played by Sam Worthington and Stefan Gold played by Marton Csokas in Berlin. Their mission is to capture a surgeon who had some horrible medical experiments on Jews in the 2nd World War and to bring him to Israel. I wont be revealing the tiny details about the movie but when they try to do so, the fail and then they have to bring the surgeon to their apartment tied while waiting for their next move. The surgeon escapes from their and Stefan decides to tell a lie to everyone that they have killed the surgeon, they are later being honored by the government. Not Stefan but David and Rachel can't live with this lie their entire life where later you will see one of them trying to do the thing they were suppose to and the outcome of it all.

              I agree that this isn't your regular suspense thriller with all you see is several missions getting completed step by step with careful and detailed developments followed by a happy and conclusive ending. This is a much more simpler and real look at a mission that actually may go wrong and even one bad decision can ruin there entire life, the anger and rage they have for their own people to have suffered the holocaust can then drive them to the levels where they risk their own lives and people around them but things they couldn't do back then, they have to do it now or they will die with regrets that no one wants. The ending was quite painful to watch for me specially due to the character of Rachel as she is the strongest and the main of them all. Jessica Chastain had the best year any actor had or even think of having with such great movies and brilliant performances and being in every other movie released. She is the best thing about the movie. I must say they had a bit casting problems, when i read some of the reviews before i saw the movie, i thought that was ridiculous to point out towards the wrong casting choices. But it wasn't until i saw when i realized they weren't wrong at all. You might not find any problem with the Chastain- Mirren casting but in the older David and Stefan roles it is confusing and almost ridiculous.

                Helen Mirren did a fine job and played the character really good, she have done many movies after her The Queen win that doesn't always represent her to her utmost acting abilities, she needs more awards contender movies for sure. The real best thing about this movie is the wonderful, gorgeous and a outstanding performer Jessica Chastain who is cast perfectly and she delivers a believable and honest performance. In some scenes where she has to flex some of her muscles for some fights and things, she does it like any other female action movie star. Chastain is once again the best thing about this movie. The need to have focused more on the time shifting narrative option and should have utilized that more as the ones taking place in the real time were the weakest scenes in the movie, it honestly feels like the whole movie is shifted or that both of them were directed by two different directors, that is a flaw which makes this movie a bit down or else it is somewhat intelligent and smart if not too smart offering enough twists and thriller moments that you can look for apart from the flaws that it has.

Grade: C+