TRAITOR
Traitor
Rated: PG-13
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Features:
Audio Commentary Featuring Director
Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Actor
Don Cheadle
Action! The Stunts And Special Effects of
Traitor
International Espionage: An In-Depth Look at
Traitor's Exotic Locations
Running Time: 114 minutes
Ever since
Matt Damon became
Jason Bourne and
Daniel Craig took over as
James Bond, there has been a resurgence in the spy/espionage film genre.
Traitor is a very competent addition to the thriller genre and is enhanced by the film’s stars,
Don Cheadle and
Guy Pearce.
The film follows Samir Horn (
Don Cheadle), a Muslim who watches his father be executed as a child. We find out that Samir was a former soldier who has been selling detonators to terrorist cells and has been helping them with their terrorist attacks. Horn is arrested in Yemen and is questioned by FBI agents Roy Clayton (
Guy Pearce) and Max Archer (played by the always amusing Neal McDonough) who have been tracking this terrorist group. After he gives them nothing to go on, Horn is broken out of the prison alongside his fellow terrorists who are led by Omar. Samir and Omar plan the next attack which will be on US Embassy in Nice. Samir plants the bombs while posing as construction workers and finds out that he has killed 8 people and injured 5. While the terrorist celebrate, we see Samir is visibly bothered by this and we learn by his meetings with Carter (Jeff Daniels), a CIA agent who has been keeping Samir’s cover hidden from everyone, that no one was supposed to get hurt in the bombing. The Embassy bombing solidifies Samir’s place in the terrorist group and the next plan is to blow up busses on American soil. They plan to take out 50 busses total and have them all go off at one time. Clayton and Archer are getting closer to tracking down Horn and almost have him trapped in a building when gets the jump on Clayton and gets away. Samir goes to meet Omar at a garage and Carter shows up saying the FBI are getting too close to him and as they act like they are fighting, Omar shoots and kills Carter. The bus attack is set to go off on Thanksgiving and Omar, Samir and the terrorist leaders are set to escape the country via freighter. The terrorists are given their orders via email and Omar and Samir can only get 30 people set up before they are compromised and can’t finish the plan because a leak in the FBI lets them know that the feds are closing in on them. Samir emails Clayton to tell him about the leak and tell them they are leaving via boat the next night. Clayton and Archer search every boat and Samir sees his chance to act. He kills the terrorist leaders and tries to reason with Omar to not shoot and give himself up. Omar says its too late as the plan is done and they will be heroes, but we learn Samir has sent all 30 terrorists on the same bus and they blow themselves up. Calyton, Archer and the feds swarm the boat and kill Omar and shoot Samir by mistake. By now, Clayton has realized he has been helping them all along by being undercover and taking out the terrorist leaders. The film ends with a touching moment between Clayton and Horn as Clayton thanks him for saving the American people from these attacks. It is left a little open where there is a chance we could see Samir Horn come back in a sequel at some point.
The DVD is light on bonus materials, but the strong film really is all you need. There is an interesting commentary with writer/director
Jeffrey Nachmanoff and
Cheadle that discusses the making of the film as well as the twists in the plot and development of the main character in the film. There are two short featurettes, one that discusses the stunts and special effects and the other that discusses the location shooting and how the filmmakers used Morocco for multiple locations and what a great experience it was shooting there.
Traitor takes you on an action filled ride from beginning to end and it is the portrayal of Samir Horn by
Cheadle that really sets the film apart from others we have seen come out in recent years.
