Review: A Most Wanted Man

When a suspected militant jihadist Half-Russian Half-Chechen man comes to Hamburg, German anti-terrorist expert Philip Seymour Hoffman suggests waiting and watching, rather than immediately nabbing him. Unlike the head of German Intelligence (not to mention visiting CIA woman Robin Wright), Hoffman wants to see where this young man possibly will lead them. Rachel McAdams plays a German human rights lawyer, Willem Dafoe plays a German banker helping the man with an inheritance from the man’s dodgy father, Homayoun Ershadi plays a Muslim philanthropist who may be more than he appears, whilst Nina Hoss and Daniel Bruhl play members of Hoffman’s super-secret team.

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s second last film, this 2014 John Le Carre (“The Spy Who Came in From the Cold”, “The Deadly Affair”) adaptation from director Anton Corbijn (the solid Ian Curtis biopic “Control”) and screenwriter Andrew Bovell (who co-wrote the pathetic Aussie film “Book of Revelations” and the overrated “Lantana”) won’t be for everyone. If you like your Le Carre (he was the EP of this, by the way) and can get past some pretty questionable accents it’s a pretty good slow-burner.

 

Playing out like a chess game, it’s a bit complex, although I must say it’s a tad familiar too. It reminds me somewhat of “Unthinkable”, except done right and instead of involving torture, the suspect is allowed to roam about observed from afar (I guess you could argue it’s the polar opposite of “Unthinkable” in that sense, but no matter, it’s still the film I was thinking of as I watched this. Both films are about post 9/11 terrorism and involve asking tough, rather unsavoury questions). In a performance that somehow had me thinking of both Stellan Skarsgaard and a muted Charles Laughton, Hoffman is terrific and ultimately owns the film despite Willem Dafoe (especially) and Robin Wright (in her best effort since “Forrest Gump” 20 years ago- Yes, it really was that long ago. We’re old!) threatening to take it out from under him with excellent support. Dafoe in particular is great here. He might swing and miss as an actor sometimes, but when he hits, he’s a truly mesmerising actor. Hoffman has an interestingly shambolic, pockmarked and world-weary quality here. He’s not my favourite Le Carre lead (that would be Richard Burton in the wonderfully brooding “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold”), but he’s one of those actors who are interesting even when they’re not saying anything. Rachel McAdams is just OK and never gets a handle on her German accent. Yes, PSH sounds a tad Seth Effriken at times too, but McAdams stands out like a sore thumb (Dafoe’s German accent is only slight, but ends up being the far more convincing of the three). I’m not sure she’s cast to her best advantage here, I’m afraid but what she does have in spades is something that can’t be taught: star quality.

 

It’s such a shame that the talented Daniel Bruhl has a tiny and colourless part, otherwise I rather liked this one. Although the observatory, chess game-like behaviour of Hoffman’s character is interesting, I do have to wonder how credible it is that in a post-9/11 world that a suspected terrorist (or person with suspected ties with terrorism) would be given such freedom to roam about while everyone waits and sees where it leads.

 

Typical slow-burning Le Carre stuff with an excellent downbeat ending. If this sort of thing is your idea of a great time, you’ll certainly get more out of this than others might. Frankly, I think it’s more interesting (and less dense) than “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, which I found very heavy going. Hoffman is terrific, yet again reminding us of the talent he has ultimately deprived us of seeing for years to come.

 

Rating: B-