John Madden confuses me. The director, not the former coach of the Oakland Raiders, that is. Former coach John Madden doesn’t confuse me at all. In 1998, film-guy John Madden directed the Best Picture, Shakespeare in Love (it didn’t deserve Best Picture. Saving Private Ryan did, but most can agree it was an excellent piece of work all the same). Shakespeare in Love was a comedy/romance masking itself as a drama. Since then, the man has Madden-ingly galloped away full speed from all comic touches in making films like Proof and Killshot and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Even in his latest, The Debt, a major character commits suicide-by-double-decker bus in the second scene. Yeah, there’s some big laughs and more on the way!
The Debt is told simultaneously in two different timelines – one set in 1966 tells of a Mossad ordered capture/kidnap of a former Nazi war criminal in East Berlin. This history is played by actors like Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington (who is still one great performance away from having one great performance) as young spies sent to do the deed. The later story opens in 1997 with the daughter of the female spy hosting a party announcing her book in which she details the events of mom and dad on that 1966 mission. This time, the characters are the same, but played by people like Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren. Mirren even gets to read the passage where the kidnapped criminal breaks loose from bondage and she shoots him dead on the streets of Berlin. Of course, there’s more to it, or why would Ciarán Hinds, the older version of Sam Worthington (do those two look anything alike?) commit suicide?
I don’t see it. Willing suspension of disbelief, Jim. Willing suspension of disbelief.
Helen Mirren gets to play a secret agent again, which is cool, because I thought Red was kind of silly. Her Debt work here is far more believable, as it ought to be
People who like to guess might figure out the twist beforehand. However, like The Sixth Sense and Fight Club before it, The Debt (although clearly not as good as either of those films) is very watchable even if you’re in on the joke, so to speak. Hey, there was some humor in there, after all. Good for you, John Madden.
Rated R, 114 Minutes
D: John Madden
W: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan
Genre: Political thriller
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Readers of mystery novels
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Adam Sandler fans
Reading the review, it sounds like you don’t like this film too much. You don’t really say anything positive about it, apart from Helen Mirren’s acting. Yet 3.5stars?