‘All the Old Knives,’ with Pine and Newton, a sharp thriller
I like spy movies where the agents aren’t always running around dodging bullets and using cool gizmos while driving like James Bond or something.
I like James Bond movies, too. But it’s nice sometimes to be reminded that a lot of this work is simply talking to people, gaining trust and eking out information that prevents trouble before it starts. Of course all that has to go wrong at some point or it wouldn’t be much of a movie. But “All the Old Knives” – what a publicity department would probably describe as a “sexy thriller,” which isn’t inaccurate – gets a lot of mileage out of conversation.
There is some violence, and certainly the threat of it, but it’s committed by terrorists and most of it occurs offscreen. Instead, when a hostage situation heats up, the CIA operatives in the film hit the streets. To talk.
Janus Metz’s film is based on Olen Steinhauer’s novel
It’s kind of cool. It doesn’t make “All the Old Knives” a great movie – there are a lot more elements needed for that than people talking a lot. But it’s a pretty good one.
Janus Metz’s film is based on Olen Steinhauer’s novel. Chris Pine plays Henry Pelham, one of the operatives working in Vienna a few years ago when terrorists hijacked a plane. Thandiwe Newton plays Celia Harrison, his co-worker and lover. They work in an office run by Vick Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne). Celia’s mentor, Bill Compton (Jonathan Pryce), also works there, among others. In intermittent flashbacks we see the hostage situation unfold; eventually it goes completely south and everyone aboard is killed. (Don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler – we know this almost from the start.)
Now, six years later, more information has come to light. Vick visits Henry and tells him that the mission might have been compromised. Someone from inside the office might have been helping the terrorists. He wants Henry to investigate. Which means talking to the most likely suspects, Celia and Bill. And this is not the kind of mission that, once the culprit is found, results in arrest and trial. Vick wants a faster and more permanent solution.
The day the terrorists killed everyone on the plane Celia bolted – out of the office and out of Henry’s life. She’s married, has children and is living in Carmel-by-the-sea. Bill is in London.metz jumps back and forth between Henry’s conversations – interrogations, really – with both, as well as that day six years ago in Vienna.
As you might expect, Henry’s dinner with Celia, in a chic and absurdly beautiful little wine place, becomes the film’s centerpiece. They haven’t seen each other since the day she left. So there is some initial awkwardness, some fake friendliness, how are the kids – that kind of thing.
Henry enjoys the wine, evidently, judging by the number of glasses he downs. But he’s nervous. She is too, of course. As they work their way into the more businesslike aspects of the interview, Metz flashes back to show us what they are talking about as the fateful day went down.
The twists are somewhat predictable; a twist within a twist is reasonably satisfying. But this is the kind of movie that relies less on surprises than chemistry. And Pine and Newton’s is fine, nothing more. In fact their conversation is far more magnetic than their romantic scenes.
Maybe that’s the point. Because the sexiest, most thrilling part of this sexy thriller is just watching them talk.