The Debt Reviews

Our Review

Tense thriller pays off with acting and action

Dale Rolfe, MovieFix

A showcase of nuanced performances, The Debt is an intriguing, tense thriller that explores the value of truth and the consequences of its manipulation.

The narrative moves between two times: Tel Aviv in 1997 and East Berlin during Cold War 1965. In 1997, three retired Mossad agents, Rachel (Helen Mirren), Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) and David (Ciaran Hinds) have been lauded for capturing Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel, nicknamed 'the Surgeon of Birkenau' 30 years earlier (Jesper Christensen). However, the flashes of unease that cross Rachel's face at a book launch about these heroic exploits indicate that a great duplicity has occurred.

Flash back to 1965, fresh-faced, first-time-in-the-field Rachel (a luminous Jessica Chastain) poses as the infertile wife to David (Sam Worthington), in an intimate cat-and-mouse game with Vogel, now a gynaecologist. Stefan (Marton Csokas) assumes leadership of the trio, whose task to entrap Vogel and transport him to Israel for trial, is undertaken in a void with no hi-tech gadgets and little assistance from Mossad.

The three agents suffer in this claustrophobic relationship fraught with danger. As careful planning gives way to disaster and conflict, the trio carry out an exercise in suppression; of fear, of desire, of the truth. This simmering pot bubbles over with dramatic consequences.

The Debt is most successful in its quiet moments, from the heart-stopping tension between Rachel and Vogel as she sits in stirrups, to the wall-clawing oppression that suffocates the agents in their dank apartment.

Although the advertising will have you believe The Debt is all about Helen Mirren, this is Chastain's movie, and she delivers a mesmerising performance. Although Mirren is excellent, her scenes are weighed down with exposition, and the tension that was ratcheted so high in the flashbacks can never be recaptured in the present.

The Debt never loses sight of its action-thriller status and is always in motion, sometimes at the cost of subtlety, but nonetheless, it's a really fine, satisfying journey.

Your Reviews

Deborah

I just had the opportunity to watch this movie and it was truly excellent. This topic will never tire for me and always allows for awareness as it has been so long. Helen Mirren is always amazing, Sam Worthington was definitely not "Avatar", loved seeing the difference, and Chastain was spot on in her response to the script. Just an overall great movie, one of best I have seen and would not have been the same without Mirren. Excellent cast, story and twists.

peanuts

Excellent movie. Best I've seen in a while. Keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Definitely recommended.

Enjoyable diverting - but not much more.

A remake of the 2007 Israeli film of the same name, John Madden’s Westernised take on the gritty espionage thriller is enjoyably diverting, if not much more. Tracking three Mossad agents across two timeframes – as young adults they embark on a perilous mission to capture a serial killing Nazi surgeon, 30 years later they revisit their haunted memories – there’s plenty going on story-wise. However it lacks that required edge to elevate it into spellbinding territory, largely due to the uninspiring way it’s shot and presented. The impressive line-up of actors don’t disappoint; Martin Csokas, Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain gel naturally as the inexperienced spies, whilst Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds and Helen Mirren add enormous clout as their elderly counterparts. Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse; a mixed affair really.

Norma Jean

An excellent gripping movie. Most intelligent movie I've seen in long time. Great acting, great story. Unexpected ending. Certainly deserved the MA rating.

Didn't know alot about the movie before seeing it - Enjoyed the film and enjoying Helen Mirren, more and more

zzzzzz....wasnt that war over about 60+ years ago. Who will they hunt when all those Nazis are dead?

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