The Debt (2011)

The Debt was set to be released at the beginning of the year but was put back due to discussions over the future on Miramax. Thankfully that has all been sorted (for now) and we finally get the Chance to see John Madden's latest film.

Set In Berlin, 1965. A trio of young Mossad agents are assigned to track down a wanted Nazi war criminal (Jesper Christensen). But while the mission seemingly ends in triumph, in 1997 the past come back to haunt them.

Scripted by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (director and writer of Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class) and based on the Israeli film of the same name, the story is a fairly straightforward tale of revenge, duty, lies and the impact they have on the 3 agents lives. The difference with similar films of this nature is that the Debt has some excellent performances from the cast, especially Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain who play agent Rachel Singer across two separate time periods. Chastain is, alongside Emma Stone possibly the hardest working female in cinema at the moment. She plays the role with a certain strength and vulnerability while Mirren is just as good as the older, scarred Rachel. Tom Wilkinson/Martin Csokas and Ciaran Hinds/Sam Worthington  give good performances as the 2 other agents but some critics say Sam Worthington is the weak link in a otherwise strong cast and I have to agree. Sam can do action with the best of them but here he struggles to cope with the accent and just doesn't have the same acting skills as the rest of the cast.

It's the 60's segments which are the most impressive in the Debt, with the central trio forging a close bond, before unravelling after they capture the Nazi war criminal because of a tense love triangle between the trio. Rachel is torn between the quiet and shy David (Worthington) and the outgoing and charming Stephen (Csokas).

The scenes in the 90's just don't have the same emotional impact and loses focus on the relationship between the three agents. It's also a shame the film has such a flat ending. Without giving too much away, the finale seems to forget about all the intelligent and necessary steps the agents take for a more action-orientated confrontation. Up until then the film moves along very well, and you get to see a cast that gives top-notch performances.

Even though the film has a clear morality lesson, it doesn't spend a lot of time trying to make statements to the audience. Instead, the film chooses to focus on maintaining the suspense while exposing the humanity of what it means to lie on such a big scale.

The Debt is a well acted thriller that's smart and tense. Occasionally its loses focus and the ending is very disappointing. However, this is something different to the rest of the summer films this year and has a cast that is generally performing at the top of their game.