A Most Wanted Man
Günter Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman: Catching Fire) isn’t a man who stands out in a crowd. His shoulders hunch, pulling awkwardly at his ill-fitting jacket. His softening middle hangs over his pants, the product of poor diet and long days at a desk. His weary, weathered face reveals bright blue eyes often peering over the rim of a whiskey glass.
Bachmann looks like hundreds of dissatisfied office workers who flood the bars of Hamburg. But he’s not. He’s the head of a small intelligence agency tasked with rooting out terror cells. Bachmann’s unremarkable appearance is exactly what makes him so good at his job.
Bachmann’s current obsession is Dr. Faisal Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi: Inja Iran), a wealthy Islamic philanthropist who may be funneling money to terrorists.
When illegal Chechen immigrant Issa (Grigoriy Dobrygin: 4 Days in May), washes up on the shores of Hamburg, Bachmann sees his opportunity to break open a terror cell. Issa claims to be the heir to a Russian warlord’s massive fortune and a refugee from a Russian torture camp. He was also part of an extremist Islamic group. Bachmann is eager to see if Issa will use his new inheritance to help Abdullah fund a terror cell.
Can Bachmann prove Abdullah is a dubious character? Is Issa a threat to Germany? What is the human cost of keeping a country safe?
Based on a novel by John le Carré, A Most Wanted Man is much like the character of Bachmann: unremarkable, unless you’re paying attention. Director Anton Corbijn (The American) takes time to build the Hamburg environment. The offices are dingy, filled with papers and outdated technology. Dirty streets spill over from a heavily industrialized waterfront. Corbijn takes his time making the life of Hamburg teem in the streets.
Because Corbijn spends so much time setting the scenes and developing his characters, he tears through plot at a breakneck speed. Like 2011’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the movie is more rewarding to viewers familiar with the novel. If you don’t know the broad strokes of the plot and characters before buying a ticket, you’ll need to focus intently.
As Bachmann, Hoffman is the quintessential le Carré hero. He’s cynical, drab and fiercely devoted to a country that allows him to do terrible things to save it.
Hoffman is the center of a powerful cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Daniel Brühl. The one weak spot in this impressive spy thriller is Rachel McAdams’ Annabel, whose German accent quakes when she has more than a few lines of dialog and who isn’t quite believable as a tough human rights attorney.
If you’re looking for a classic spy drama with a feeling of realism, A Most Wanted Man won’t disappoint. See it to say goodbye to one of America’s finest actors in a performance that is worthy of his legacy.