Micitype Pretty Good

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

RocDot The biggest mistake in this movie was the casting for the part of the Stephen Gold character! Was nobody over at Acme Central Casting that day? Was no one clever enough to see that Ciarán Hinds and Marton Csokas look alike and both should have been the older-younger versions of Stephen Gold, instead of Tom Wilkinson and Sam Worthington!? Someone sure was out to lunch that day, wow. Oh well.

CANpatbuck3664 My favourite type of villain is one who is smart, tough, charismatic and analytical. A good example is Russell Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma. He is smarter and more charismatic than anyone else in that movie. You know he could take anyone of these guys out at any time but he's biding his time till he comes up with the perfect scheme. While the villain isn't as good in this action film called The Debt, it does deal with a similar scenario where the villain is in our heroes' heads and just toying with them. Now, while this film doesn't exactly break new ground it deals with the fact that the Nazis in some cases were some of the most evil people to walk this Earth. When dealing with them, you couldn't let down your guard for a minute. Our heroes are part of an organization that is world revered for its special ops and still that is their fatal flaw and believe you me, they more than suffer the consequences.* Minor Spoilers Ahead* At the start of the flick we are introduced to 3 young Israeli special ops agents in a flashback narrated by Sarah Gold (Romi Aboulafia). These young agents are Stephen Gold (Martin Csokas), David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain). She describes them during a presentation and how they were able to confront and kill the famous Dieter Vogel (aptly nicknamed the Surgeon of Bierkenau). In the audience is Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren) who has now aged into a proud yet sullen mother. In another flash we see older David (Ciarian Hinds) being picked up by a young agent to go meet with the older Stephen Gold (Tom Wilkinson). Yet before he gets in the car David abruptly runs in front of a passing bus and is killed. Again we flash to a dinner in Sarah's honour that night for her book in which Rachel has been asked to read a passage. Stephen is able to make it to the party as well and there is considerable tension between Rachel and Stephen. It is revealed that although they are separated, they are mother and father to Sarah. Rachel is instructed to read aloud the passage which describes the escape of Dieter Vogel from his confines with our 3 heroes in tow and the passage ends at his death. Rachel is obviously bothered reading it but she doesn't let on. Stephen talks to her after that she needs to come with him something has developed that could compromise the two of them and their revered story.There's a lot in this movie to like and the first thing I would like to talk about is the actual look of the film. They not only do a really good job making it look like the 1960s but they do a great job recreating Berlin at that time. To say its dingy and dark is an understatement and its a breath of fresh air because spy films have a tendency to really dress up everything to make it look sexy. This one takes a more accurate look into the environment a spy has to endure.Secondly, the actors really shine to say the least. Every performance by the 7 or 8 most popular characters are great, grounded and believable. If there were standouts, I would point to the younger actors who all help convey the sense of monotony and paranoia that would come with these terrible situations. While I don't think he was any better than the rest, I have to say this is one of Sam Worthington's best performances. He is good normally but this is the first film that I have seen where he really has to convey a range of emotions which the movie hinges on and he completely pulls it off. I also hand it to Jessica Chastain who is awesome in both this dramatic yet physical role. She has great range and after this and The Help, it's easy to see why she's one of the elite actresses working today.The pacing of the movie is pretty fast too, its constantly jumping, shifting and moving around. It never lets you get comfortable and it movies toward its conclusion swiftly and assuredly. The movie also offers unique twists that you won't see coming. The plot changes directions a lot and it actually works to its advantage. A great example is the romantic triangle between the three younger characters. Your heart really goes out to Rachel and David even amongst all this action and psychological drama going on.I do have a couple of minor complaints. With so many flashbacks going on, it does make the movie hard to follow at points. I love a fast paced movie but there were times where I needed some more explanation and time with the characters at this point which I didn't get. There are some minor plot holes here and there (my brother pointed these out immediately) but I don't think they really make you suspend your disbelief. Lastly, I just don't think the movie really aimed high enough. It didn't try and reach for that next level. It does exactly what it wants and that's good but had they decided to go a different direction, it could have been great instead of just really good.Getting to the rating, I thought this movie was pretty good, just not great. It satisfies avid fans of several different genres effectively and that is its strongest point. But it also fails victim to the fact that it really was just not aiming high enough. I give this movie a 8/10 for efficiently achieving its goals. I would like to see more movies like this and I was surprised at where it actually decided to go.

Reno Rangan I'm glad that I finally saw it. All these years something stopped me from watching it, but not this time. So I forget what this film was about and went for it thinking it was about money related theme as the title hints. That's a surprise, because it was a spy film and a good one too. I almost loved the whole film, but a few parts were not up to the expectations including the conclusion. I mean I liked that, but according to the climate in the story I anticipated a good ending, even it was cliché I would have not cared.It is the remake of an Israeli film of the same name and obviously slight changes were made in this version. There are two sets of the same characters, because the story takes place in the two different timelines. Hence the young ones and the old ones of the same roles were played by the different actors. They all were amazing, particularly Jessica Chastain led from the front and finished it off quite neatly by Helen Mirren. At one point I thought it was a martial art film, but that part was just a build up like any spy theme.The story holds the suspense, like it does not let us know what they were doing. And when you come to know their intention, the new angle of suspense arises. Like theirs plan to accomplish the mission. Besides the love triangle pours more anticipation towards the conclusion. Apart from the actors, the writing was the most impressive job, to tell the tale very successfully. If it could have not shied away of the clichés, it would have been a masterpiece. Still a very good film and definitely worth a watch.7/10

nzpedals But first, what great casting. The three main characters are at first in their twenties, then, with different actors, thirty years later but are almost completely credible as older versions of themselves.Jessica Chastain/Helem Mirren is Rachel, one of three Mossad agents who aim to abduct a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin and get him back to Israel for trial and execution. Their way of getting him is plausible and well acted, produced and directed. Alas, things go wrong, they get him but can't get him out of Berlin, then he escapes, nearly kills Rachel and so they conspire to tell their masters that they did kill him. They have to live with the deception until much later Rachel's daughter writes a book all about her wonderful mother. The other two agents David and Stefan have to cope with Rachel who is on her first mission. Relationships develop of course.In my view, Ciaran Hinds as the older version of Stefan, looks more like the younger version of David. But apart from that, it is such a dramatic and gripping movie. I give it a 9.The very different point is that this is a movie about an operation that basically has failed. All along, we are expecting them to succeed just like almost every other spy story.