Rendition Compelling Despite Shortcomings

Rendition (2007) Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, J.K. Simmons; directed by Gavin Hood.

Witherspoon’s Egyptian-born husband finds himself a suspect in a terrorist bombing and CIA-head Streep orders him nabbed off a commercial airline flight and shipped off to North Africa for some American-style torture.

Gyllenhaal is a first-time CIA interrogation observer who comes to realize that the prisoner is innocent of any wrongdoing and acts to make amends. Witherspoon is passable as the grieving angry wife, but she has little to do. Streep dials in a terrific performance, as expected. But the real support comes from Peter Sarsgaard as a senator’s aid who tries to intervene, and Alan Arkin as the politician Sarsgaard works for.

The movie stretches a bit in the middle and manages to circle itself once too often (if you see it you'll know what I mean), and I could tick off another half-dozen faults in 12 words or less. Like Gone Baby Gone and Michael Clayton, Rendition is a movie about making choices and doing the right thing, tough the resolution of this movie appears earlier and far more obvious to the audience than in the other two. But I managed to like this film despite its shortcomings, probably because I like Streep, Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Arkin so much.

**** out of 5