"Terrorist Spy Thriller"
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What You Need To Know:
TRAITOR is an enjoyable spy thriller. Much of the dialogue centers on if Islam is simply a good religion that seeks no harm or if it is an Allah ordained instrument of killing “infidels.” The movie gives no conclusion because it’s filled with very sincere (though sincerely wrong) people on both sides. It has a strong moral streak, however, because it never justifies the terrorists and laments the killing of even one person. Even so, there is some foul language and strong violence.
Content:
(BB, C, FRFR, LL, VV, N, A, D, M) Strong moral worldview with some light Christian elements but mixed with an advocacy of a “peaceful Islam”; 10 obscenities and no profanities; men in fist fight multiple times, men shot with machine guns, some blood but not sensationalized, bombing with reports of people killed but we don’t see them; no sexual content; brief upper male nudity; minor alcohol use; smoking; and, rogue federal contractor takes law into own hands, acts of terrorism.
More Detail:
TRAITOR is the story of Roy Clayton an experienced FBI agent who begins to track former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir, suspecting him of terrorism. The closer Roy gets to Samir, the more evidence of terrorism that he finds. However, not all of the evidence is conclusive, and Roy begins to try to figure out if Samir is a traitor to America, a traitor to the terrorists, or something else all together. The unfolding plot takes Roy around the globe as Samir is involved in multiple bombings in Paris and London. The story intensifies as terrorist sleeper cells are “woken up” in America to stage an orchestrated bombing on Thanksgiving Day. There are unexpected plot twists throughout, which would spoil the movie if revealed here.
The emotional core of the movie is Samir, a devout Muslim, who is attempting to unravel “God’s will” for himself. FBI agent Roy is the son of a Baptist minister who at one time pursued being a pastor himself, but discovered Arabic studies in college and changed his major. Since both men are “spiritual,” the movie ties them together. It’s never overt, though it seems that Roy may be more sympathetic to Islam than to being a Baptist.
TRAITOR has lots of action and a fun plot, but it moves slowly at times. Guy Pearce as the pursuer and Don Cheadle as the pursued give fine performances. As far as espionage genre movies go, this movie is very good.
There is strong violence, typical of spy movies, but other negative elements are minimized or non-existent.
Much of the dialogue by the terrorists and Samir centers around if Islam is simply a good religion that seeks no harm or if it is an Allah ordained instrument of killing “infidels.” The movie presents no conclusion because it’s filled with very sincere people (though sincerely wrong) on both sides. It has a strong moral streak, however, because it never justifies the terrorists and laments the killing of even one person. At no time do the filmmakers want viewers to root for the terrorists.
As an action spy movie, TRATOR is enjoyable, but media-wise viewers will want to exercise caution and discernment and perhaps even use the movie as an opportunity to discuss spiritual things.