Review: The Debt

It's 1966, and tensions are high. Germany is divided, and both sides are still filled with former nazis hiding in secrecy. They live their lives out hoping each day they can return home and can be forgotten over time. But somethings can never be forgotten, especially if what you have done is beyond gruesome. It is then the government's decision, international or simply American. To capture and obtain a former Nazi criminal and have him stand trial for his actions were prevelant during this time, long after the trial of Nuremburg we were slowly hunting down the little fractions of former police and medical teams behind the Nazi regime who had previously escaped. In "The Debt," it is up to three Mossad agents, Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain), David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas). 
Their mission is to capture  Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), infamously known as "The Surgeon of Birkenau," and have him stand trial in Israel for his crimes during the war. They must infiltrate East Berlin, find the target and bring him to Israel. The plan goes well until one screw up leads to the domino effect that lands them trapped in East Berlin with their target with no sure exit out. They are left to hide and hope that soon something will come for them or help them get out and bring the man to justice. Then, when tensions reach there boiling point, an event happens that wasn't planned and they are forced to deal with the situation. It is not until 1997, when our heroes (now played by Helen Mirren Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson), are forced to deal with the event after they are threatened by the skeletons in the closet. Will they be able to do it? Will it be too much for them? Have I avoided the spoilers for you?
Now, I am a huge fan of espionage/noir films (Bourne Ultimatum was my favorite of 2007), but this one was really straightforward, you could almost tell how it was going to roll out. Now, that can be the case for a lot of espionage classics, so I let that slide. However, a form of criticism I have that may be a common problem for you all is the casting of the older and younger agents. Now, its not that they are bad, far from it. Jessica Chastain is showing tremendous range after her turns in the delightful The Help and the brilliant Tree of Life, and here she gets her first lead performance, of sorts (they really push for Hellen Mirren's character, but honestly I preferred Chastain over Mirren). It was the male cast that got a little confusing, you could have really swapped the older two male leads for each other and I wouldn't have known. Now, if you're on top of everything while watching, then it shouldn't be that much of a problem, my dad and I just had that problem when we talked about it afterwards. Still, everyone is good here, Worthington I think isn't given enough, I really liked his character but he isn't given enough time to flesh out his character enough, I think. We never really get to know the other guy well enough to care about him. Its Jessica Chastain that commands the film, not because Mirren is ok by comparison, but having seen her in two other films I am just really impressed by her range. She is going to be a star, I think she can very well be the next Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett if she can get the right roles in the future. Director John Madden, of Shakespeare in Love fame, kind of has a screwy way of balancing the stories of past and present, which makes the story straightforward, but the editing a little all over the place. However, faults aside, I reccomend this film on Chastains performance and, through it all, its a worthy DVD rental, which is more than I can say of some other films I've seen this year.
Rating: B-