Thursday 2 August 2012

REVIEW: The Debt

Just got round to watching this as it's on LoveFilm, it's a spy film from John Madden (whom I don't really rate) and a pretty average-at-best one at that.


So Helen Mirren plays a retired spy who is famous for having killed a Nazi death camp doctor who was on the run. Through a series of flashbacks we see what happened between her and the other two men in the group.

So far, so good. However, the spy stuff is quite lame and, not very good. Also the way they apprehend the doctor seems a bit weird and unnecessary. Surely there was an easier way?

Also, they don't look like they are from Israel either. Worthington is completely dire and you wonder how his character is supposed to turn into Ciaran Hinds, whom has the depth of the ocean compared to the paddling pool of Worthington. Chastain can just about hold together what is essentially a cardboard cut out. The whole script revolves around these little 'surprises' that aren't really a surprise.

Mirren looks tired, bored and even in any action sequences rather inept at being a spy. She's the main focus but I can't help but get annoyed that this was flogged as a spy action film when in fact it's a rather tedious character study of three boring characters.The only other person I enjoyed was Marton Csokas who I always feel deserves to be in more roles.

Overall, this Matthew Vaughan / Jane Goldman (Mrs. Jonathan Ross) script is exactly the kind of thing I hate and I completely don't rate them as scriptwriters or storytellers. It's like giving two teenagers a pen and paper and a guide on how to write scripts.

Yes that includes KickAss - which was okay.

If there's nothing on then why not? But don't go out of your way to see it. At all.

Rating: 6/10

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