John Madden’s murky thriller, The Debt, is a hodgepodge of dodgy accents, interwoven timelines and political machinations. Based on Asaf Bernstein’s 2007 Israeli film of the same name, it’s not lacking in star power, and though all make solid contributions, no single performance stands out.
Beginning in 1997 we first meet the scarred Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren), a former Mossad agent, on the occasion of a book launch. Her daughter has written her life story central to which is a time she was sequestered in Berlin in the mid-60’s. It’s this crucial episode that slowly unfolds, forming the film’s central narrative.
Rachel (played as a younger woman by Jessica Chastain) is part of a trio of agents whose mission is to locate and capture an infamous war criminal (Jesper Christensen). Her two cohorts are Stefan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington), both of whom she becomes romantically linked to as the stress of their mission increases the stakes and heightens the tension. It’s David who she really fancies but the domineering Stefan (played by Tom Wilkinson as an older man) wills himself upon her, later becoming the father of her child.
The Debt boasts a strong pedigree behind the scenes. Though the generally strong Madden’s career has taken some interesting turns since Shakespeare in Love (1998), this English language adaptation is credited to Peter Straughan and the dynamic duo of Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (responsible for Kick-Ass (2010)and X-Men: First Class (2011)). The structure serves well the film’s central requirement for a past catching up with the present scenario as the unresolved mission comes back to haunt Rachel.
Though he’s a secondary figure, the underwhelming Wothington is clearly the cast’s weak link. He continues to impress nobody with his witheringly meagre screen presence, a fact that doesn’t hurt the film’s credibility too much but is distracting nonetheless. Chastain, lumbered with Rachel’s supposed Argentinian accent, is not always convincing whilst Csokas, on the other hand, has forged a career out of adapting to such fresh waters with aplomb.
The Debt has its moments of genuine tension, a fact often attributable to composer Thomas Newman who, entering a new phase of his career, adds layers of sometimes unsubtle, very modern percussion to the drama. Finally however, there’s a sense that The Debt, though hitting its marks with sleek professionalism, is just going through the motions.
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