Review: Secret in Their Eyes

Special investigator Chiwetel Ejiofor has come back to his old stomping grounds after more than 10 years away. One of his fellow federal agents (Julia Roberts) had a teenage daughter (Zoe Graham) who was brutally murdered when they were part of a counter-terrorism task force in 2002. Sadly, because the prime suspect (Joe Cole) was an important snitch who aided the Feds on terrorism-related issues, the higher-ups were reluctant to go after him unless the proof was undeniable. So it was a wash, and Cole eventually vanished without a trace. However, all of these years later Ejiofor has returned after spending the entire time away obsessed with the case and tracking Cole down. He thinks he’s finally found Cole and is absolutely determined to nail him this time. Meanwhile, he’s still struggling with his romantic feelings for married former colleague Nicole Kidman, who is now the District Attorney. Dean Norris and an antagonistic Michael Kelly play fellow agents, while Alfred Molina is their boss.

 

I haven’t seen the Spanish original, which I hear is vastly superior. That’s all well and fine. Judging this one on its own merits, I found this 2015 film from writer-director Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”, “Breach”) to be almost like a better version of “Prisoners”, which was fairly solid itself. The two timelines can be a tad confusing, but if you can get past that and don’t bring any baggage to the film via your familiarity with the original, it’s solid and engrossing stuff. Sure, it’s nothing new and Nicole Kidman mostly sucks in a very important role, but by and large it worked for me. I have absolutely no idea how or why this one flopped. It’s a good yarn.

 

Julia Roberts doesn’t look to have been having fun on screen for a good couple of decades, but in this case it absolutely works for her role. Playing a haunted woman seemingly almost paralysed by grief, she does the best acting she’s done since 1991. I had just about given up hope on the actress who really impressed me in “Mystic Pizza”, “Pretty Woman” (much as I don’t like the film), and especially “Sleeping With the Enemy”. I’d been begging for a performance like this from her for decades, and I hope it’s not the last time she decides to bring her working boots with her. Meanwhile, Roberts goes for the sans makeup look here while Nicole Kidman is apparently using all of the Instagram filters at once. I’ve seen her look far more natural in recent times (well, on occasion at least), but here she looks almost like a shiny CG cartoon and it’s incredibly distracting. In the film’s one dud performance, Kidman doesn’t emote at all for 99.99% of her screen time here. She does, however do quite well with her one big scene. You’ll know the scene when it arrives because it’s the only scene she has where you won’t be thinking about her distracting face.

 

I’m not as much of a fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor as some, but he gives a solid, haunted performance here and is a pretty decent anchor for the film. It’s also great to see long-serving character actor Dean Norris getting a solid supporting role in a film with a high-calibre cast, so it’s a shame the film wasn’t more widely seen. Alfred Molina is rarely bad to have around, either and Michael Kelly deserves credit for making you wish Negan would take a swing at him with his bat after about 10 minutes or so. This guy’s a total fucking arsehole, off-the-charts obnoxious and Kelly’s a solid enough actor to rein it in just enough so that it isn’t fatuous.

 

I didn’t guess the outcome to the story, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many do. The interesting thing is that it could’ve played out a bunch of different ways and been just as satisfying if you ask me. However, the way it does play out is really cruel and I mean that in a positive way. I’ll say no more, so as not to spoil anything.

 

It’s a shame Nicole Kidman mostly fails in a role Kate Winslet, Toni Collette or even Cate Blanchett would’ve sold, because the right casting in that role would’ve made a solid film even more impressive. It’s an interesting yarn with some weighty material well carried out by writer-director Ray and most of its top cast. This deserves more love, I think, though fans of the original may very well have a vastly different viewpoint.

 

Rating: B-