Closed Circuit (2013), R, 2 stars

Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall.

When anticipating for a British spy thriller, you have to expect the unexpected because usually when a director becomes creative enough, it becomes a pretty cool movie. The key to this type of genre is to lure the audience into being attentive to the material. It's not like a typical "James Bond" movie, but a serious chess game between enemies. Unfortunately, it has some serious intelligence but the movie lacks the urge to find all the pieces of the plot.

The movie opens when there is a mysterious explosion in a London market. One named Farroukh Erdogan is the primary suspect and is detained. Lawyers Martin Rose and Claudia Simmons-Howe (Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall) are chosen to become Farroukh's lawyers in the case. They did have a relationship in the past and are now ex-lovers. The relationship causes tension between Martin and his family and urges him to restrain himself distantly from them.

This is a highly classified case so it is split into two divisions. Claudia is in charge for the closed hearings which overlooks the information used in the trial and is required and appropriate enough for Martin to use. Martin, of course, is in charge of the open trial which he promptly informs the facts to the court. They are not allowed to contact each other. If Martin has problems, he has to meet Devlin (Ciaran Hinds). But, then, the case goes into a twist where Farroukh is not what he seems to be and that's where I'll stop the review, otherwise, I would spoil the whole story.

Bana as Martin in a crowd.

The movie provides a certain thrill when it sets up the two past lovers with a highly jeopardizing case. It sounded so promising that it urges what these two characters would do to save their lives from certain death. But, it does not because the movie spends the time overlooking political issues repetitively. The movie is muddled in that case.

However, the performances from Bana, Hall, and Hinds are strong and well-acted. They could not be any better than this. They orchestrate tension into what is needed in the case and the plot. The performances interconnect somewhat into what realistic values and qualities they provide into their work and research. They create characters as smart lawyers and not stupid caricatures. Jim Broadbent does fine work as the Attorney General.

The movie orchestrates tension into the characters and not to the story because there are plot holes that I have to question. Also, there is chemistry between Bana and Hall, but does not take the time to get comfortably acquainted with them. And, the movie's ending spirals down into a very forced predictability factor. So, it's an ambitious story with ingredients, but the ingredients of a good action thriller are just scattered all over the place with a bad result.

**