The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher) are back — to unite with a new generation of illusionists (Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt) for their most global, high-stakes magical adventure yet. Their mission: Expose the corruption of Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a powerful diamond heiress with ties to arms dealers, traffickers, and warlords. Aided by the legendary Thaddeus (Morgan Freeman), the two generations of magicians must overcome their differences to try and defeat their cunning and dangerous adversary, in this magic-fueled heist filled with the franchise’s signature twists, turns, and thrilling reveals — along with some of the most thrilling illusions ever captured on film.
NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Uncharted, Zombieland), from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith, story by Eric Warren Singer and Michael Lesslie, and based on characters created by Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt. Lionsgate presents, a Cohen Pictures production.
PG-13 for some strong language, violence and suggestive references.
Dominic Sessa as Bosco, Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves, and Justice Smith as Charlie in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes
Lionsgate surprised New Yorkers and fans nationwide this morning by giving away $250,000 in digital payments as part of a jaw-dropping Times Square stunt celebrating the trailer debut of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
Residents and tourists alike were met with a massive digital billboard flashing the words “NOW YOU SEE ME,” a live countdown clock, and a mysterious phone number, inviting them to text or call for a surprise.
As the countdown hit zero, the billboard flipped to reveal: “NOW YOU DON’T” and fans received a surprise text with the brand-new trailer – and instant cash prizes, courtesy of The Horsemen.
Franchise newcomers Ariana Greenblatt, Justice Smith, and Dominic Sessa joined the magic in person to help stage the visual “heist” in the heart of Times Square.
The stunt was designed to capture the spirit of magic and mischief that the franchise is known for.
The Four Horsemen return along with a new generation of illusionists performing mind-melding twists, turns, surprises, and magic unlike anything ever captured on film. Stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, with Rosamund Pike, and Morgan Freeman.
NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is from director Ruben Fleischer and in theaters November 14, 2025.
Dominic Sessa as Bosco, Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves, and Justice Smith as Charlie in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes
Oscar-winning writer/director Emerald Fennell bowled audiences over with A PROMING YOUNG WOMAN, her intelligent, taut thriller directorial debut. This year, Emerald Fennell brings us SALTBURN, a star-studded dark comedy dealing with the British class divide and privilege, with an unsettling, horror film slant. Even the film’s Gothic script title treatment sets the mood for this contemporary twisty thriller.
Set in the mid-2000s, SALTBURN stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, a bright scholarship student at Oxford who is eager to fit in socially with the upper crust as succeed academically. The academics are easy for Oliver, but social class aspirations are another matter. Finding himself on the outside, persistent Oliver eventually is befriended by handsome, charming, aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), one of the most popular students at his college. When Felix learns the working-class lad has nowhere to go for the summer break, he generously invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family’s sprawling estate, Saltburn.
There is a “Talented Mr. Ripley” aspect to this tale of an ambitious outsider worming his way into the upper crust but SALTBURN takes a different turn, into psychological horror with unsettling obsessive sexual overtones, some homosexual, plus a fair amount of nudity. This is not a film for everyone but it does deliver on the psychological horror thrills and features some startling, visually rich cinematography, gripping scenes and top-notch acting. Still, SALTBURN is not for the faint of heart.
Nobody does class snobbery like the Brits, where the class divide, not just wealth, still matters so much more than here. Felix tells Oliver to just relax and be himself, and that his family is “nice,” but really, you immediately know British aristocrats inviting an ordinary Brit into their world has the potential for things to very wrong.
Tension is in the air from the start, but things unfold in unexpected ways in this twisty plot. Oliver is indeed welcomed by Felix’s father, Sir James Catton (Richard E. Grant) and Sir James’ younger wife Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and more coolly by Felix’s sister Venetia Catton (Alison Oliver). It turns out the family has a history of taking in guests, and Oliver is not the only house guest this summer, joining a woman consistently called “poor dear Pamela” (Carey Mulligan), who is going through a rough patch, and an American-born, biracial cousin named Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe).
What looks like an ordinary aristocratic family at first turns out to be more eccentric than expected, setting up some uneasy dynamics. Actually, Oliver knows the cousin, another Oxford student, but Farleigh has not been as nice to Oliver as Felix – nasty, in fact. Farleigh is angry that Felix brought this socially-inferior scholarship student home for the summer, and Farleigh constantly reminds Oliver of his aristocratic superiority to him. But Farleigh himself is a bit of an outsider, as the child of a wayward sister who was taken into the family by Felix’s father. Sir James supports his nephew and pays for his Oxford education but Farleigh has no money of his own, depending on an allowance from his uncle. The last member of the Saltburn household is Felix’s sister Venetia, a beautiful woman but emotionally unstable person, who helps things start to go wrong, as they must, in this tense set-up.
While the eccentric family has this habit of taking in “strays,” the house guests are there only as long as they amuse the aristocrats, despite the polite assurances and seemingly warm welcomes. But what starts out looking like it will be an “aristocrats behaving badly” tale, soon goes down unexpected, dark rabbit holes. Things get very crazy at stately old Saltburn.
Every aspect of this creepy thriller is top-notch, including the brilliant photography, twisty story, and the performances by the gifted cast. There are some bloody moments, staged with stunning visual style, lots of creepy tension, and death comes to visit as well, in this horror-tinged, chilling psychological thriller.
Barry Keoghan has delivered a number of striking performances in supporting roles, most recently in BANSHEES OF INISHERIN and THE GREEN KNIGHT, films which have showcased his range. SALTBURN gives this talented actor a chance to shine in a lead role. And shine he does as the complicated Oliver, a character whose layers are peeled back in the course of this psychological thriller. Keoghan wrings every drop from this creepy tale, including startling, carefully-lit final scene that has him dancing through the grand house.
As charming Felix, Jacob Elordi delivers a strong performance, even more so than he did in PRISCILLA, where he plays Elvis Presley, and seems destined for stardom. Elordi’s Felix means to be kind, unlike some other family members, but he is inherently clueless due to his privileged upbringing, holding people to high standards that are easier for him to meet than some others less lucky.
While Felix appears the most stable of the Catton family, his sister Venetia is its biggest emotional mess, which helps trigger some of the madness that follows, and Alison Oliver gives a fine performance in the role.
Richard E. Grant is perfect as the unfailingly polite aristocrat Sir James, who plays the role of enforcer behind the scenes when needed. Rosamund Pike is gracious but cool as Elspeth but there are hints of a wilder past. Carey Mulligan is wonderful in her smaller role as “poor dear Pamela,” stylishly-dressed but emotionally weighed-down by a traumatic past. As cousin Farleigh Start, Archie Madekwe is great, as the snarky and bitter character, going from arrogant confidence to desperation as events unfold.
SALTBURN is an incredibly-polished film, with brilliant photography, nail-biting tension, excellent performances and taut pacing, but the nature of this disturbing tale means it is not for everyone, as noted earlier. For the right audiences, SALTBURN is a class divide, creep fest trip well worth taking.
Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
The score is by composer Anthony Willis (Promising Young Woman, M3GAN).
Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film SALTBURN will premiere in theatres nationwide on November 22nd.
Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
Saltburn was the Opening Night film of the 67th BFI London Film Festival on October 4. In their review, The Standard’s Ella Kemp says the film: “is so delicious in its twists, the gorgeously lensed disasters and endless farces, that it’s impossible to ignore the work of a truly gifted and haywire filmmaker.”
Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan, SALTBURN Will Release In Select Theaters November 17, 2023. In Theaters Everywhere November 22, 2023
Check out the first images from Emerald Fennell’s SALTBURN, starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan.
Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
The film is produced by Emerald Fennell, p.g.a; Margot Robbie, p.g.a; Josey McNamara, p.g.a.
SALTBURN will release in theaters November 24, 2023.
This recent worldwide health crisis has been more than a “bump in the road” for increased lifespans. But let’s be a bit more optimistic…for now. If the vaccines do their intended job, and we adjust our social behavior, for the time being, the human race could be “back on track” to stick around longer than any time in recorded history. As I recall, one of the national newsweekly magazines from 2015 ran a baby photo on its cover and stated that the lil’ cutie could live to 142 years. So, that’s a good..no great thing, right? Oh yes, but there’s the dark side, mainly the failing functions of the mind and body. And, unfortunately, there’s no end of human vultures looking to swoop in and scoop up, unlike the animals it’s cash rather than flesh. One such scavenger is at the heart of this new, somewhat satirical, comedy/thriller. Of course, she denies her villainy, insisting that it’s not about that loot, and declaring that I CARE A LOT.
The caring lady in question is Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) who runs a nice little for (big) profit business as a court-appointed guardian for several (her office wall has thirty or so 8 by 10 photos tacked up) senior citizens who have been deemed by their doctor (“bought off” by Marla) unable to care for themselves. In the opening moments of the story, she squashes the court challenge of a man who has been denied seeing his mother who’s in a “skilled care” facility (also in cahoots with guess who). Naturally, Marla has taken over this lady’s finances, emptying his bank accounts and selling her car, house, and everything inside it. There’s no time to celebrate after the court victory, though. She gets a call from the “home” telling her that one of her “wards” has passed, so there’s a plum vacancy open (but Marla has to give him 2 grand to “hold” it for her). Time to call her pal Dr. Amos (Alicia Witt), who just happens to have a seventy-something “cherry”: a widowed lady with no relatives and a paid-off house in a prized neighborhood. Just a note from her is enough for Judge Lomax (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) to assign Marla as her legal guardian. Before the ink is barely dry, she and her (very) personal assistant Fran (Eiza Gonzalez) are escorting a sad and confused Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) out of her cherished home and checking her into her room at the “care facility” (after taking her cell phone, for safety matters naturally). As Fran and her helpers are emptying out and painting the Peterson place a bewildered cab driver shows up looking for Jennifer. Fran informs him of her hasty relocation. Ah, but this isn’t your regular transport “hack”. He conveys this to a powerful man surrounded by armed “muscle’ in his plush high-rise office. That shady individual, Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage) is most unhappy that his visit with Jennifer has been canceled. After getting a bit more intel, he sends his legal “shark” Dean (Chris Messina) to visit Marla, toss off some casual threats, and offer a case of cash (150K). But Marla declines, sensing that someone with very deep pockets is “on the hook”. Thus begins an all-out war, as Jennifer becomes an addled pawn in a most dangerous game. But just which type of criminal mastermind will triumph? And what of the sweet quiet lady in the middle?
Marla may be the most morally complex role that the gifted Ms. Pike has taken on since her breakthrough work as the “Amazing” Amy in 2014’s GONE GIRL. Early in the story’s ongoing narration, she states that “You’re either predator or prey.”, And though I’ve mentioned the feathered scavengers, Marla is most definitely a shark, an alpha one at that. She’s constantly moving, seeking out another tasty ‘ward” to gobble up. And in a couple of scenes, we see her strike back when the threatened males attempt to push her into a corner (she alludes to a brutal childhood). Somehow Pike makes her more compelling than repugnant with her confident body language and staccato line delivery. Luckily her passions are not all wrapped up in acquisitions, illustrated by her affection for Fran. Gonzalez makes her more than dangerous “eye candy”, though still exuding the same sultry siren call from her BABY DRIVER diva. Fran and Marla have a deep loving bond, perhaps united by their shared “hard knock” past and the thrill of being just inches (clients, really) away from the “sweet life”. The two make quite a dynamite duo. And they need that explosive energy when dealing with Dinklage’s sinister crime kingpin (from a one-sided phone call over “mules’ we know he’s just as exploitive and evil). Roman is a tight compact ball of fury whose can be “set off” with the most delicate announcement of bad news, really whatever blocks his path. And this raging monster is giving a heart due to his devotion to Wiest’s Linda. She grabs our sympathies immediately as she’s prodded and hustled with all manner of condescending attitude and physical interaction. With her furrowed brow and “welling up” gaze, Linda’s all of our dearest matriarchal figures, debased by the evils of the world. But then Wiest shows us her dark, dark side. Through the haze of the home’s forced medications, Linda spits venom at the startled Marla. Wiest shows us that the “cherry” is far from a helpless patsy. And though he’s only in a few scenes, Messina makes a strong impression as the smooth “mouth-piece” Dean Ericson, who’s quick to toss out a business card, while biding his time to formulate a subtle threat of violent retaliation. His perfectly coiffed exterior can’t quite disguise the tough street fighter who’ll slash you as you dart into an alley. He’s a formidable sparring partner for Pike’s Marla and their scenes in and out of the courtroom crackle with tension.
Writer/director J Blakeson has whipped up a most imaginative and unpredictable cautionary tale that’s a call to action and a rollercoaster thrill ride. In the first act, we’re nudged to feel outraged at the legal (in appearance) exploitation of the elderly by the “ice queen”-like Marla. But then she almost becomes an “anti-heroine” in the mode of WALL STREET’s Gordon Geeko using lives as commodities in a dark satire of modern avarice. Then the plot takes a near “U-turn” with the introduction of Roman (though the Russian mobsters are now a too easy “go-to” bad guy cliche), as we hope for Linda’s rescue and Marla’s comeuppance. But somehow Blakeson gets us rooting for Marla and Fran, as though they’re a modern, wealthier take on THELMA AND LOUISE. Then it’s apparent that the two opposing forces are united in their anger with society’s attitudes toward them (Marla and Fran for their gender, Roman for his size). It’s quite an impressive feat to completely steer audience allegiances so often over the story. Aside from the typical action flick Russian mob, Marla’s constant vaping (now film shorthand for “jerk”) almost veered the film into “parody-town” (guess it’s a modern take on the big macho Cuban cigars). Still when it works (the handling of Linda is blood-boiling fuel), you’re grateful for this inventive take on the crime/action “pot-boilers”. And though the “tacked-on” epilogue feels a bit like an ending that the 1930s Hayes Office (a film decency group) would have insisted on, I’m guessing that Blakeson, like his complex creation Marla, would tell all of us that, “I CARE A LOT”. And his passion shows.
3.5 Out of 4
I CARE A LOT streams exclusively on Netflix beginning Friday, February 19, 2021
Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike has played a Bond Girl in DIE ANOTHER DAY, opposite Carey Mulligan in AN EDUCATION, a warrior in CLASH OF THE TITANS, Simon Pegg’s girlfriend in AT WORLD’S END, Ruth Williams in Amma Asante’s excellent A UNITED KINGDOM, and garnered her first Oscar nomination, playing opposite Ben Affleck in David Fincher’s GONE GIRL.
Her latest parts have included 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE, BEIRUT and 2017’s HOSTILES. Pike’s on-screen presence is very reminiscent of actress Katharine Hepburn, as well as adding gravitas to any movie she stars in.
The talented and affable actress now take on the role Marie Colvin, one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time.
Check out the first trailer below.
Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London’s elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she’s witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her — along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) — to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.
Based on the extraordinary life of Marie Colvin, A PRIVATE WAR is brought to the screen by Academy Award nominee and critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman in his pulse-pounding narrative feature debut.
With this type of strong role, combined with an end-of-year release, Pike could possibly see her second Oscar nomination from Academy voters.
A PRIVATE WAR opens in LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK on November 2 and goes wide November 16.
Jon Hamm (foreground) and Rosamund Pike, in BEIRUT. Photo courtesy of Bleeker Street.
Jon Hamm finally gets the leading man role he has long deserved, in the Middle East-set thriller BEIRUT. It should have happened long ago for the former St. Louisan, based on his unforgettable turn in MAD MEN, if nothing else.
Hamm is excellent as Mason Skiles, a one-time U.S diplomat stationed in Lebanon whose life was upended by tragedy but is reluctantly pulled back into service to negotiate the release of his former colleague and best friend Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino) who is being held hostage by Palestinian terrorists. Hamm’s strong performance is the primary reason to see this thriller, which does not finish as strong as it starts. Still, Hamm is good enough to make the film still worth seeing.
BEIRUT opens in a peaceful, idyllic Beirut in 1972, where skilled diplomat Mason Skiles (Hamm) is working the room of a party he and his wife are hosting. The party is barely underway when his friend Cal (Mark Pellegrino), an embassy staffer and covert CIA operative, arrives with disturbing news that concerns Karim (Yoau Saian Rosenberg), the 13-year-old Lebanese orphan the couple have virtually adopted. Events suddenly take a violent turn and end in tragedy for Skiles.
A decade later, Skiles has left the diplomatic service and is working as a union negotiator, when he is not drinking himself into oblivion. Nonetheless, the CIA arrives to press him into service again, to negotiate the release of his old friend Cal, who has been kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists hoping to trade him for one of their leaders. Skiles’ particular skill set is needed to win Cal’s freedom.
Skiles returns to a very different Beirut, one at war and in rubble. Briefed by embassy official Donald Gaines (Dean Norris) and assigned to work with CIA operative Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike), Skiles has to work through his own demons while trying to save his friend.
Hamm is excellent in this film, and the main reason to see the film. The film is directed by Brad Anderson with a script by writer-producer Tony Gilroy. Gilroy wrote the script for the BOURNE IDENTITY and MICHAEL CLAYTON. Although this is a spy thriller, it feels closer to MICHAEL CLAYTON, with a shadowy world of intrigue, more a John LeCarre spy novel than a Bourne action spy thriller.
Hamm creates a complex character, dealing with a lot of emotional baggage and bad history while applying his skills as a negotiator to the task for which he has been pressed into service. All the emotional connection the audience feels is centered on this character. None of the rest of the cast get the chance to develop the same depth to their characters or get the same resonance with viewers.
Hamm is excellent in this twisty spy thriller, but one wished the film itself was better. BEIRUT is so busy being twisty that it ties itself into knots, Gordian ones. While Hamm delivers the goods, one wishes the film he was in was as good has he is. After a promising start, the thriller seems to lose some steam once it returns to war-torn Lebanon. We see the devastated city and the heartbreaking impact that has on Skiles but while we get a sense of its chaos, there is little on the issues or human drama at play in the rubble. The problem is that BEIRUT raises issues in the political fraught Middle East but then only touches gingerly on them. The Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli characters are all two-dimensional, something that has caused some offense, and the conflict serves mostly as just backdrop for Skiles’ personal journey.
Which is a shame, since there is much to say about the region, its conflicts and U.S. policy, besides being rich ground for complex, thoughtful political thrillers. There was so much more that could have been said in BEIRUT, but Jon Hamm is a strong enough actor to make the thriller work.
BEIRUT opens Wednesday, April 11, at Plaza Frontenac.
Though the Oscar ceremony is less than two weeks old, the studios are returning to real-life subject matter with a non-fiction flick usually released toward year’s end for awards consideration. Oh, and this true tale from nearly 42 years ago has been dramatized multiple times. It all really depends on this film maker’s take, their perspective. Big battles of WWII have been the source of several films. Just last year the story of Dunkirk was the backdrop for three films: the propaganda romance THEIR FINEST, the acclaimed Churchill profile THE DARKEST HOUR and Christopher Nolan’s same titled multi-story thriller. Now, returning to theatres is the tale of a hijacked airliner and the secret rescue of its passengers back in 1976. Shortly after the incident, the broadcast networks rushed out two dramatizations (later released theatrically overseas), “Raid on Entebbe” and “Victory at Entebbe” were multi-starred TV events that echoed the “disaster movie” formulas (with casts that included Elizabeth Taylor, Burt Lancaster, and Charles Bronson). And a year after the events, the story was made into a true feature film by the “Go-Go” boys over at Cannon Films as OPERATION: THUNDERBOLT with Klaus Kinski and Sybil Danning as two of the main hijackers (not one to leave a good plot unexploited, the same studio produced a slightly fictionalized version nine years later as THE DELTA FORCE with Lee Marvin and Cannon superstar Chuck Norris). So with over four decades passed, and more information released, will time be an ally in this very latest docudrama/ thriller, 7 DAYS IN ENTEBEE?
The film begins minutes prior to the fateful Air France Flight 139’s boarding in the Athens airport (after originating in Tel Aviv). Near the gate, two members of the German Revolutionary Cells, Bridgett Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike) and Wilifred Bose (Daniel Bruhl), try to make discreet eye contact with two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-External Operations. Once the jet is in the air on the way to Paris (after that stopover in Athens), the four take out their weapons (pistols, grenades) and announce that the plane is being hijacked. Bose heads to the cockpit, sending out one crew member, as he gives the pilots part of the new flight plan. When they touch down in Libya for refueling one of the passengers who pretends to be pregnant, is released for medical attention. She contacts authorities who pass on the information. Word eventually gets to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi) during a cabinet meeting. After the seven hour refueling, the plane lands at its ultimate destination, Uganda at Entebbe airport near an old unused terminal. There everyone is greeted by the country’s president Idi Amin (Nonzo Anozie), who supports the hijackers while assuring the passengers that he is their “hero”. The next day the hijackers issued their demands: $5 million USD for the release of the plane and the release of 53 Palestinian and pro Palestine prisoners. If the demands are not met, they threaten to begin killing the passengers in two days. Shortly after, passports are inspected and the Israelis are separated from the other hostages (who are soon taken away by buses on to other flights). Rabin meets with his security teams. When diplomatic talks with Amin break down, defense minister Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan) insists that they send in a rescue team. Despite mounting pressure to negotiate, Rabin agrees to the mission, named “Operation: Thunderbolt”, and an elite military team begins the planning and preparation. One of the soldiers, young Benji (Ben Schnetzer) tries to calm his dancer bride (Andrea Deck), who wants him to attend an important recital, but most importantly, prays the he returns to her from the deadly assignment. And all the while temperatures climb as tensions between the hijackers mount back at the Entebbe airport terminal.
For most of the film’s first act the story centers on the two Germany-based hijackers, a duo united by a mission but with very different personalities. Pike as Kuhlmann is the more focused, perhaps the toughest of the two. Her motivations are more clear as she seems to be seeking revenge for a fallen friend. With her eyes blazing with fury, Pike is a formidable force who still lets her guard down occasionally to clumsily try to comfort a distressed child. Other times she plays the “bad cop” to Bruhl as the often wavering Bose. His reasons for joining are never really concrete. He proclaims himself an idealist, but we’re not shown via flashback how this publisher of radical tomes made this huge leap to action. In between his furious chain-smoking, Bose rankles at his PFLP superiors, and we seem him strain to convince Kuhlmann that they may have been duped, or at least kept in the dark. Bruhl conveys Bose’s disenchantment and unease at his role, especially when the Israelis are singled out. Both Pike and Bruhl relate the still fairly fresh disgust and shame over their homeland’s WWII atrocities. The story shifts in the second act to the Israeli power base, headed by the calm, contemplative Rabin, portrayed with subtlety by Ashkenazi (who were saw as an ambitious politico last year opposite Richard Gere in NORMAN). We can see him slightly struggle to keep his cool (more furious chain-smoking) as he’s bombarded by his country’s press and citizens (they even storm his offices) along with those in his cabinet. The loudest voice may be the tough-talking Peres played with pit bull tenacity by the glowering Marsan . Almost chanting “Israel does not negotiate with terrorists” as a mantra, he hovers over Rabin’s shoulder as the voice demanding action, not talk. Anozie brings an unpredictable affability to the role of Amin. At times an engaging buffoon whose fragile ego can cause him to turn, on a dime, into a vicious raging beast. Also of note is Denis Menochet as the member of the flight crew who is filled with a quiet dignity as he tempers his disgust at his captors’ cruelty. In one scene he delivers a much-needed “wake up” call to Bose, saying that sometimes the world may need plumbers and mechanics more than idealistic radicals.
The depiction of the first minutes of the hijacking is taut with tension with the terrorists in as much of a sweaty panic as many of the passengers. Unfortunately director Jose Padilha (the recent failed ROBOCOP re-boot) then begins to loosen the reins. The internal machinations of the Israeli cabinet is still compelling as are the plotting and rehearsals of the planned rescue. By that time the short flashbacks to the hijackers’ secret meetings in Germany have concluded without really giving us a clear look at their motivations and ultimate goals. And then Padilha and screenwriter Gregory Burke commit a narrative blunder usually foisted upon audiences of the 40’s and 50’s. The film screeches to a halt as we are introduced to the young couple, the soldier and his dancer paramour, perhaps to give the story a more personal, relatable angle. I always think back to the stateside romance that undercut the courtroom tension in THE CAINE MUTINY (Bogie going bananas is much more interesting than the two colorless lovebirds). As if that weren’t bad enough, the actual raid sequence is intercut with the dancer’s big recital, the one her elite forces beau is skipping (the rehearsal scenes weren’t distracting enough). Perhaps the film makers were making an artistic commentary, saying the Middle Eastern conflicts were a never-ending dance of destruction and death. What should be a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat finale is completely derailed, making the final act more frustrating than engaging. And these poor choices make 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE feel like a full month.
