Without giving too much away—and believe me, there could be a lot—Traitor is a slightly more intelligent thriller than most, infused with some stirring questions about Islamic faith, extremism, and alliances made and broken that is also saddled with conventional elements. 

Former special operative Samir Horn (Don Cheadle), accused of being a Muslim extremist, winds up in jail following a botched arms deal in Yemen. He escapes with his new buddy Omar, who brings him along to Marseilles to plan an attack on a U.S. consulate. Meanwhile, FBI agents Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Max Archer (Neal McDonaugh) are tracking Samir and believe, with his background, that he is a major terrorist threat to the U.S. (Among other reasons, he underwent special military training in Afghanistan in the 1980s.) 

There are also hints of The Departed thrown in (but perhaps not enough), and some believable and engrossing dialog in the two main plotlines involving Samir’s trek up through the ranks of a terrorist cell and Clayton’s and Archers’ hunt for him following a string of attempted/successful bombings in Europe. 

But what makes the picture work more than anything else is Cheadle. He plays Samir as a conflicted Muslim in a situation that he can’t get out of and can only control up to a point, and his scenes remind us why he’s one of the most gifted actors, whether in extraneous Hollywood projects (Reign Over Me) or slightly more independent ventures like this. 

Sadly, however, his plotline is definitely the more engaging one, particularly in the first half, which keeps the audience guessing. Guy Pearce (arguably an equally talented and more versatile actor) is placed in the position of a textbook two-dimensional FBI agent who, oddly enough, gets his best scenes when finally toe-to-toe with Cheadle. Character actors, like Saïd Taghmaoui as Samir’s befriended terrorist Omar, fare much better with meaty dramatic moments with the Oscar nominee.

The plot itself, as mentioned, is loaded with twists and sudden occurrences, filmed by first-time director Jeffrey Nachmanoff (co-writer of The Day After Tomorrow), who maintains a high-pitch intensity. Unfortunately, what is lacking is any real sense of urgency with the story; it’s a lot like one of those Tom Clancy thrillers that mean to pop and crackle with action and inter-continental espionage but turn predictable. Just when the script starts to raise some questions, Nachmanoff backs away into the safer tick-tock-tick-tock scenario.  At the end, there aren’t too many questions left for the viewer, though I had a curious one: what is Steve Martin doing co-writing a movie like this? Weirdly cathartic aftereffect of Pink Panther remakes, one supposes. Jack Gattanella
August 27, 2008