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So much average

Load of rubbish!!

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Blistering performances.

I was going to rate this movie a 6, but at the last minute gave it an 8 instead, because I saw it for the first time on cable a week ago, and I can't stop thinking about it.there are definitely "plot holes you could drive a truck through," as they say. the biggest one is something other reviewers have noted. Debra Winger's character Katie/Cathy is forced to go back and continue her undercover work (pun intended) several times, even though there's PLENTY of information to convict all of these people on multiple charges many times over. I guess it's good to know the FBI is so scrupulous about the "righteousness of their busts" but seriously...!other people have mentioned the "night hunt" scene. I watch a lot of movies, horror movies especially, but I have to say that this was one of the only times I've ever literally watched a scene with my jaw hanging open. I got the impression that the crimes were supposed to "ramp up" somehow throughout the movie and get more and more serious, but the hunt scene was far more awful than anything that came after.the movie is beautifully filmed. one scene in particular caught my eye: it's early in the courtship of Gary and Katie, and they've just come back into his house through the front door, which is still open. they stand facing each other, the farmland beyond framed by the door, and the trees all blowing in the wind. I finally figured out that it reminded me of that great (and very windy) scene in "The Quiet Man" and borrowed by "ET" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I do not know if that was deliberate on the part of the filmmaker, but it was really pretty either way.

"Betrayed" is top shelf entertainment, but it fails as great cinema. Director Costa-Gavras, writer Joe Eszterhas, and a fine cast create a meticulously shaped story with depth and multiple points-of-view. The film works on many levels. For example, contrasting romantic imagery of rural American against sterile bureaucratic offices is not subtle but it is effective. French cinematographer, Patrick Blossier, and editor Joële Van Effenterre bring subtly to the narration. For example, little side shots of a man lying in the bed of a pickup truck or umbrellas in rain define such icons as structural counterpoints to images of racial violence. Little touches give a sense of subtly to what is a heavy-handed story. This is pretend subtly. Mr. Eszterhas is an often-underrated screenwriter. With a great director, as in this film, the screenplay unfolds, as does his screenplay for "Basic Instinct" under Paul Verhoeven, but here it never quite feels authentic because it is not. How Costa-Gavras and Eszterhas create empathy for unappealing, bigoted people indicates the revolutionary material background for such violence. Not nihilistic but close to it, the film ends with a lovely affirmation of humanity. Alberta, Canada stands in for the Midwest of the United States as it did in the masterwork film "Days of Heaven." Playing that area in warm tone against Chicago in cold, blue tones is obvious but it works. The ability of the players, with casting by Mary Goldberg, deeply impresses me from child Rachel Valdez to John Heard, John Mahoney, and Betsy Blair in her last role and on to Debra Winger and Tom Berenger as the protagonists. Debra Winger as icon with relentless reaction shots feels the core of the film. Those reaction shots would work wonderfully in a more carefully constructed narrative. This political film feels like propaganda because it is. Deciding the point-of-view is easy on one level but the density of the narrative undermines one's sympathy. That works; but the heavy-handed and essentially unlikely story annihilates that strategy. Roger Ebert's intelligent review of this film makes sense. The storyline is not believable. Debra Winder's character somehow just does not make sense. The ambiguity is simply too fancifully conspiratorial. Yet, Ms. Winger's reaction shots carry the day. You sense something deeper underlying the tomfoolery. The ten is for Debra Winger and Tom Berenger who somehow redeem this work.

From the mid-sixties to the early eighties, Costa-Gavras made an enviable run of movies. When he moved to Hollywood he made one last great movie, the 1982 thriller missing. Since then his work has deteriorated. Betrayed belongs to this period of deterioration.In a rare instance for Costa-Gavras, the movie is not co-written by him. Nor is it co-written by his usual screenwriters - Franco Solinas or Jorge Semprún. It's written by Joe Eszterhas, arguably one of the worst screenwriters Hollywood ever had. Betrayed is not as bad as Showgirls or Basic Instinct, however, and actually has a credible premise.Debra Winger plays Catherine Weaver, an FBI agent working undercover, whose mission is to insinuate herself in the life of Gary Simmons (Tom Berenger), a man suspected of having ties with white supremacists and possibly the murderer of a well-known and polemical talk radio host. Catherine falls in love with Gary, becomes intimate with him, is accepted in his house by his mother and children. She can't believe such a kind, noble man could be a murder.Then one night he takes her to go hunting a black man he and his friends have kidnapped for the purpose of sport. This sequence defines everything great and wrong about the movie: on the one hand, it's a chilling, disturbing sequence; on the other hand, it's ridiculous that Gary would share such a dangerous part of his life to a woman he barely knew. The viewer needs to excuse such situations many times in the movie.The title of the movie is an interesting choice and refers to the betrayal Catherine is committing: after all, she's accepted and well treated by Gary and his friends (with the exception of the psychotic Wes, played by an amazing Ted Levine). She constantly feels torn apart between her loyalties to the FBI and the love she has for Gary and his family. Debra Winger captures the emotional conflict very well.But it's Tom Berenger that steals the movie as the sweet, polite rancher who secretly organises an army and plots to overthrow the ZOG - Zionist-Occupied Government. Berenger plays Gary as a very human and even likable man. This movie deserves merit for not demonising Gary and his followers and for giving him a sound, coherent voice, even if it's fueled by hatred and twisted logic.Betrayed is never an awful movie; in fact it's quite enjoyable. But it doesn't feel like a Costa-Gavras movie. Anyone could have directed this and get the same result. And the ending is so sentimental and sweet, it seems forced, and hardly representative of the work of a man who has made bleak movies like Z, The Confession, State of Siege, Special Section or Missing.

I have watched this film several times. I usually avoid Costa-Gavras because he is left-wing and I have no truck with left wing ideals and socialist/commy doctrines. But, politics aside, this film is interesting plot and character-wise. I have read most of the comments from others on this and of course most of them are from left-wing liberals who rant on about racism and middle America etc etc. That was of course most predictable. The title of the film is "Betrayed". And this is what is interesting. How Debra Winger, masquerading as a farmer manages to betray the kindness of Tom Berenger towards her. Little by little she enters into his private life and he is taken in by her. And it is very painful for him when she reveals her real identity. The film is very entertaining and there is never a dull moment. True, there are some violent and unsavoury scenes but these are not overdone. I have great admiration for the character of Tom Berenger - very sensitive to Debra Winger and a man of traditional family values, standing up to anyone he does not agree with, including Klu Klux Klan members and Nazis. His character is actually quite complex and while the liberals will predictably denounce him as a racist, it's actually a little more complicated than this. This is a typical European left wing liberal view of Americans and should not be taken too seriously by the Americans themselves. Indeed the most Obnoxious character in the film is not Berenger but Katie's FBI boss, Michael. I was really hoping this man would die during the film but alas it was not to be so.He was a really evil character who was using Katie for his own ends. In addition the actor playing him really had a mean face !! My main interest then in the film is the love relationship between Katie and Gary Simmonds as well as the tune "the devil's right hand" which is actually the French title of the film.