By Simon Foster
From the opening title card that links the gestation of the 9/11 campaign with Hamburg’s hub of conspiratorial terrorism, it is clear that director, Anton Corbijn (Control, Life, The American), wants his adaptation of John Le Carre’s 2008 page-turner to be treated as a real-world scenario.
Following the European intelligence community’s failure to derail the planning of the World Trade Center attacks, all covert operatives function on a personal “high alert.” Orchestrating the angst to his benefit is career analyst, Gunter Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who oversees an anti-terrorism unit maintaining both high profile and covert relationships with the local ethnic enclaves. Their latest assignment is Chechen-Russian outcast, Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a young man violently silenced by his homeland governments, and seeking shelter with a Muslim family in Germany. Human rights attorney, Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), is swayed by his gentle exterior, and helps him access a multi-million-dollar inheritance. To Bachmann, Karpov has the makings of a jihadist, the funds destined for local terrorist cells.
The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman brings the gravitas needed to add nuance to some conventional machinations. His Bachmann is a sublime construct of understated screen acting. Hoffman subverts any expectations that his character is darkly motivated, exhibiting little concern as to the nature of extremist faith other than to how it pertains to his work. McAdams continues to grow as an actress, although she can’t prevent her character’s descent into functional plot device. Anton Corbijn has found a like-minded creative spirit in Australian scriptwriter, Andrew Bovell (Lantana), whose crisp words favour the tight staging at which the director excels. Bovell nails the intricacies of John Le Carre’s book. Despite a flurry of final frame action, A Most Wanted Man is smart and solid entertainment.
