Dorathen Better Late Then Never

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

CANpatbuck3664 My favourite type of villain is one who is smart, tough, charismatic and analytical. A good example is Russell Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma. He is smarter and more charismatic than anyone else in that movie. You know he could take anyone of these guys out at any time but he's biding his time till he comes up with the perfect scheme. While the villain isn't as good in this action film called The Debt, it does deal with a similar scenario where the villain is in our heroes' heads and just toying with them. Now, while this film doesn't exactly break new ground it deals with the fact that the Nazis in some cases were some of the most evil people to walk this Earth. When dealing with them, you couldn't let down your guard for a minute. Our heroes are part of an organization that is world revered for its special ops and still that is their fatal flaw and believe you me, they more than suffer the consequences.* Minor Spoilers Ahead* At the start of the flick we are introduced to 3 young Israeli special ops agents in a flashback narrated by Sarah Gold (Romi Aboulafia). These young agents are Stephen Gold (Martin Csokas), David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain). She describes them during a presentation and how they were able to confront and kill the famous Dieter Vogel (aptly nicknamed the Surgeon of Bierkenau). In the audience is Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren) who has now aged into a proud yet sullen mother. In another flash we see older David (Ciarian Hinds) being picked up by a young agent to go meet with the older Stephen Gold (Tom Wilkinson). Yet before he gets in the car David abruptly runs in front of a passing bus and is killed. Again we flash to a dinner in Sarah's honour that night for her book in which Rachel has been asked to read a passage. Stephen is able to make it to the party as well and there is considerable tension between Rachel and Stephen. It is revealed that although they are separated, they are mother and father to Sarah. Rachel is instructed to read aloud the passage which describes the escape of Dieter Vogel from his confines with our 3 heroes in tow and the passage ends at his death. Rachel is obviously bothered reading it but she doesn't let on. Stephen talks to her after that she needs to come with him something has developed that could compromise the two of them and their revered story.There's a lot in this movie to like and the first thing I would like to talk about is the actual look of the film. They not only do a really good job making it look like the 1960s but they do a great job recreating Berlin at that time. To say its dingy and dark is an understatement and its a breath of fresh air because spy films have a tendency to really dress up everything to make it look sexy. This one takes a more accurate look into the environment a spy has to endure.Secondly, the actors really shine to say the least. Every performance by the 7 or 8 most popular characters are great, grounded and believable. If there were standouts, I would point to the younger actors who all help convey the sense of monotony and paranoia that would come with these terrible situations. While I don't think he was any better than the rest, I have to say this is one of Sam Worthington's best performances. He is good normally but this is the first film that I have seen where he really has to convey a range of emotions which the movie hinges on and he completely pulls it off. I also hand it to Jessica Chastain who is awesome in both this dramatic yet physical role. She has great range and after this and The Help, it's easy to see why she's one of the elite actresses working today.The pacing of the movie is pretty fast too, its constantly jumping, shifting and moving around. It never lets you get comfortable and it movies toward its conclusion swiftly and assuredly. The movie also offers unique twists that you won't see coming. The plot changes directions a lot and it actually works to its advantage. A great example is the romantic triangle between the three younger characters. Your heart really goes out to Rachel and David even amongst all this action and psychological drama going on.I do have a couple of minor complaints. With so many flashbacks going on, it does make the movie hard to follow at points. I love a fast paced movie but there were times where I needed some more explanation and time with the characters at this point which I didn't get. There are some minor plot holes here and there (my brother pointed these out immediately) but I don't think they really make you suspend your disbelief. Lastly, I just don't think the movie really aimed high enough. It didn't try and reach for that next level. It does exactly what it wants and that's good but had they decided to go a different direction, it could have been great instead of just really good.Getting to the rating, I thought this movie was pretty good, just not great. It satisfies avid fans of several different genres effectively and that is its strongest point. But it also fails victim to the fact that it really was just not aiming high enough. I give this movie a 8/10 for efficiently achieving its goals. I would like to see more movies like this and I was surprised at where it actually decided to go.

floatingpolarbear This is an adequately paced story with some interesting elements for anyone into WWII and cold war movies. It starts out as a spy movie and at some point it fizzes into something else, losing moral ground as if it wasn't aware it needed it. It's unclear why this story needed to be telegraphed to the world, but hey, it's always nice to see Helen Mirren even if she does look extra dowdy. The bad guy does the best acting in the whole movie genuinely giving you the creeps; it's clear the actor knows who the character is which is more than I can say for the other characters. The main characters take your sympathy for granted and fail to notice you got off the bus 30 minutes ago.

jbirks106 I had expected yet another standard Hollywood take on the Holocaust but this is a surprisingly complicated, or maybe just confused at times, thriller about a botched kidnapping and 30-year conspiracy and its consequences.In a sense the film bites off more than it can chew. So many themes -- revenge, antisemitism, guilt, love, betrayal -- compete for the plot's attention that in the end I'm still not sure which one it decided on. But the process of deliberation was worth it. Even the guilt is so diffracted it's not clear who isn't guilty of something, except for the most guilt-wracked creature in the movie. Even the daughter who vanishes from the scene by the third reel, isn't blameless: you'd think if she'd been a better journalist, she'd figure out who her own father was and that in fact her whole family is full of sh*t.Another implied culprit in the entire kidnap fiasco is the government of Israel, which fails to come through after the initial plan falls through. We don't know why the plan with the Americans falls through, but you know how it is when politicians get involved. All that matters is that the three agents are on their own.Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson were the only known actors to me, and it's not surprising that theirs were fine performances. But the whole cast is good.

SimonJack The fine performances of the entire cast of "The Debt" are my only reason for giving this film six stars. The story had good potential as a post-Holocaust and World War II thriller. But its very subject -- an operation by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, is what loses credit for the film. That's because of the several failings of the agents in the operation. It wasn't long into the film when my attention was drawn more to the mistakes of the expertly trained agents, than to the mission itself and the intrigue surrounding it. So, I soon found myself watching for the next mistake instead of being engrossed in the story itself. I don't think that's what the filmmakers want of any audience. But, I suspect this may have been true for any number of other viewers as well, judging from some of the reviews I've read. While any covert operation is bound to run into a glitch here or there, I don't know of any true events that have had so many glitches. This movie of course, is fiction. But consider some of the real covert operations that have succeeded for Israel. On May 11, 1960, Mossad agents abducted Nazi Adolf Eichmann from Argentina where he had been in hiding since 1950. He was tried in Israel for his leadership in the Holocaust and was hanged in 1962. Numerous other operations by the Israeli intelligence network have occurred in many countries. And, on July 4, 1976, Israeli intelligence and the military planned and carried out a huge counter- terrorist effort. Operation Thunderbolt was the name of the Israeli commando raid on the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. That raid covered more than 2,500 miles to free the remaining hostages of an Air France flight that had been hijacked. It took just one week to plan and carry out the raid. A TV movie was made on that operation in 1976 -- "Raid on Entebbe." So, in "The Debt" we have a fictitious operation carried out by three agents in 1965. Mossad was established in 1947, and its agents were highly trained and expert in all aspects of covert operations. Indeed, the movie shows their hand-to-hand combat skills early. Only one of the agents – Stephan Gold (played by Tom Wilkinson and Marton Csokas) appears to be fully competent though. But even he fails to make sure that Dieter Vogel is completely secured when they begin their escape. Had Vogel not been able to honk the horn in the van and draw the attention of the East German guards, the abduction-escape looked like it would work. The young Rachel Singer and David Perez made mistake after mistake. They violated training and listened and reacted to the talk of their prisoner, Vogel. In both instances, it led to serious errors on their part. But, even after those errors, they didn't recover. In the first instance, David doesn't think to clean up broken pieces of a dish that could be used to cut ropes – as Vogel indeed used a piece of broken glass to get free and then to attack Rachel. Rachel also failed to clean up the entire mess herself. And, when she saw that Vogel had gotten free, she walked into the room where she could be attacked from behind. She didn't alert her fellow agents first. She didn't pull her gun, and approach the room by checking each side. She just walked ahead with a dumb-founded look of disbelief that the prisoner wasn't still tied up where he was. Is there a single viewer of this film who didn't know she would be attacked from behind? Now, I credit the actors with very good performances. But, the script and direction that had these agents act like such stumble-bums is a very poor characterization of what may be the world's most competently trained and able covert agents. But, even with Rachel's seeming lack of security and pursuit training, she seemed to be able to take down her two male agents, both much bigger men and close to her age. She showed that ability again when she was able to subdue Vogel in his doctor's office. She was 25 and he was close to 60. But, he defeats her after he escapes following a heavy beating by David. And then, at the film's end, the once again alert but not alert Rachel is taken down by Vogel. Only this time, she's 57 years old and he is over 90 years old. So much for her abilities.Other aspects of this film – wrestling with truth, selfishness versus concern for others, etc. get convoluted and don't find any resolution. So, the ending is probably right on. We don't know if Rachel lives to see her daughter shamed or not. But, she has taken the steps to see that that will happen. And then there is the tough David who was so bent on justice for one of the Nazi henchmen who contributed to the killing of his whole family. He is so hurt in conscience by the travail of their failed mission after 30 years, and the thought that nobody else knows the truth, that he has to step in front of a truck to end his own life of misery. Maybe this film is more about pride than anything else. That would explain why the agents would lie – to cover up their incompetency. Instead of for the good of all Israel – as Stephan argued. This movie might have one redeeming value. It could be used as a training film for new recruits and old hands in the security and intelligence fields. It shows what not to do, and what happens when one doesn't follow his or her training.