Movie Review - Closed Circuit

Closed Circuit (2013)

Starring Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Julia Stiles, Anne-Marie Duff, Denis Moschitto, Hasancan Cifci, and Jim Broadbent

Directed by John Crowley

I keep waiting for the movie that's going to provide the breakout role for Rebecca Hall.  Not only is she incredibly attractive (with a British accent to boot), but she exudes an intelligence and a down-to-earth demeanor that I find appealing.  Closed Circuit certainly didn't provide the breakout, but it's a perfectly acceptable political thriller that is elevated because of the respectable cast.

The film opens with a bombing in a open-air market in central London.  The police arrest Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), a man who seemingly has ties to Middle East terrorist organizations.  When the barrister set to represent Erdogan in the public hearing commits suicide, up-and-comer Martin Rose (Eric Bana) is plucked to replace him.  However, prior to the public hearing, a private hearing needs to be held.  With many aspects of the bombing having the ability to compromise MI-5's terrorism investigations, the government appoints another lawyer to Erdogan's defense, Claudia Simmons-Howe (Hall), to look over all of the government's secret information relating to the attack and determine what, if anything, needs to be made public record in order to help her accused client.  While Martin and Claudia are supposed to not have contact with each other -- as Claudia's private information may affect Martin's public defense -- the two used to have a romantic relationship and find it difficult to cut ties.  Not only that, but as both Claudia and Martin dig into the Erdogan case, they realize that things may not be as cut and dry as MI-5 hoped it would be.

Closed Circuit is a solidly made thriller that moves along at just the right pace.  However, I couldn't help but think this belonged on the BBC rather than in a movie theater.  There's nothing about it that screams "THEATRICS," but that doesn't by any means signify it's not of a high quality.  Seeing as how this is out of theaters and you'd just be watching it at home anyway, it's absolutely worth watching should political thrillers be your cup of tea.

The RyMickey Rating:  B