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Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A lot of fun.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie is supposed to be on the death camp doctor Joseph Mengele and the Mossad attempt to capture him, the sterling performances by Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain do not make up for glaring omissions in the plot. No scenes were depicted of what Vogel (Mengele) got upto in the concentration camps, in fact no scenes depicted in camps at all, so no context or background is indicated. The movie builds up to quite a crescendo in the end, then falls dead flat without any conclusion at all at the end, which is a complete anticlimax.

Reviewed April 2012An intriguing spy thriller about three Mossad agents about their mission 30 years ago and how its consequences are affecting them now. Excellent performances, a little rough on the edges yet competent screenplay and an even tone makes this an interesting watch before it all gets messed up by the end. Sarah Gold has just launched her book about a Mossad mission that took place 30 years back where a Nazi war criminal was captured and killed from Russian occupied Berlin. The mission consisted of 3 agents Rachael Singer (Now: Helen Mirren/Then: Jessica Chastain), Stephan Gold (Now: Tom Wilkinson/Then: Marton Csokas) and David Peretz (Now: Ciarán Hinds/Then: Sam Worthington). Sarah is the daughter of Rachael and Stephan. The mission was to capture Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) responsible for experimenting and killing hundreds of Jews during the Nazi rule and delivering him back to Israel for a trial. The agents plan and prepare for the delivery, but the circumstances go off their plan and the rest is about how they managed it then and how it is affecting them now. Also deals with Rachael's feelings for both men in her team and how they end up. The real star of this movie is Jessica Chastain. She is unbelievably beautiful not just for her looks but also the portrayal of her character as a vulnerable yet determined young agent going to any lengths to fulfill her mission objective. Most interesting part is also the time line during their mission, which is shot with the right ratio of subtlety and panache. Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas also deliver apt performances. Where it all goes wrong is towards the end, not just because I am not a huge fan of sudden change of mind about honesty, but the way it is dealt with. Apart from the climax mess, the rest is so compelling made more by Jessica Chastain. Watch it for the new star, Jessica Chastain and some thrilling spy action sans fancy gadgets and over-the-top styling.

(57%) One of the few movies that a little information beforehand is a good thing because during the first 15 or so minutes I was more or less in the dark over what the hell was going on. Then eventually it became clear this is about nazi hunters during the 1960's in east Berlin leading to it settling down quite nicely and becoming generally quite a good watch with. The cast is fairly strong, although Helen Mirren is given top billing despite her not really being on screen all that much, with her younger self (Jessica Chastain) getting more of the meat of the story. This though overall is sufficiently entertaining and certainly well made enough for most film fans to take a look.

I feel like there's a really great crime thriller in here, or at least, it could've been great with other creators. That sounds harsh, and maybe it is and I shouldn't diss every film for not hitting the best possible levels or heights. But, it is sort of disappointing, if not really surprising just because the film hasn't had much hype or popularity since it came out until this time. Both Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain are the clear standouts, with the latter proving to have an insanely crazy and almost impossible year in terms of film and her breakout. Overall, the film is nicely made all around (if maybe a little too pulpy, or not pulpy enough?) and while I don't think it's all that great, still very much worth it.