A Most Wanted Man (2014)

pixelburp · 14-04-2014 9:15pm #1

Given Philip Seymour Hoffman's passing, I think it throws his remaining performances to come in a new light, making them worth noting and that bit more previous when they appear.

So here's one of them, the latest adaptation of a John LeCarré novel (which I read but don't really recall tbh) and as such is an old-fashioned slow burning thriller. I've no idea how those German accents stack up - any native speakers out there? - but I'm curious to see what Hoffman brings to the role, which seems to be that jaded, world-weary & experienced type of agent one sees a lot in LeCarré's work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3nIeRy5qHw

The Strawman Argument · 09-09-2014 7:03pm

This is out on Friday, by the looks of it. Have no interest in LeCarré (although I suspect his material could be a treat within a cinema) but Corbijn has yet to not be at least somewhat interesting with his films and it is more or less Hoffman's last film so I'll be going to it.

JP Liz V1 · 11-09-2014 12:18am

Besides the late great PSH, also in the cast are William Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright and Daniel Brühl

catallus · 12-09-2014 7:01pm

Vat the hell was that about?

Not great, in fairness the cast were ok, but the script stank!

No tension, poor pacing, flimsy characters and

no payoff. I'd even go so far as to say the very final shot with Seymour-Hoffman walking off screen was an insult to an audience which put up with two hours of it.

K-9 · 12-09-2014 8:26pm

Not one for the action junkies all right! Hoffman is very good, as is McAdams but the script differs in focus from the book, which is a shame for me. The tension doesn't get built well enough, so a lot of people might miss the significance of the Defoe banker character.

Mr E · 14-09-2014 11:54am

I liked the movie and it really held my interest, but the ending

was a big "f**k you" to the viewing audience.

Did the book end the same way, K-9?

cloud493 · 14-09-2014 7:10pm

Absolute rubbish I thought.

K-9 · 23-09-2014 2:23pm

Mr E wrote: »

I liked the movie and it really held my interest, but the ending
was a big "f**k you" to the viewing audience.

Did the book end the same way, K-9?

Definitely, the film just doesn't give the sense of foreboding that the book builds, Hoffmans distrust of his own superiors and the Americans doesn't come across in the film for me.

Yeah, it's the same ending as the book.

e_e · 24-09-2014 7:03pm

Well I thought it was excellent, I didn't go in with high expectations but massively preferred it to the dreary and convoluted recent remake of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Spent a good 80 or so minutes (past the initial setup) of the runtime with a palpable sense of dread yet not being exactly sure why. Really gets under your skin.

spiritcrusher · 23-10-2014 2:16am

Finally got around to seeing this today. I was initially really looking forward to this film but after hearing a few mixed opinions regarding it my expectations were lowered quite a bit, however I really enjoyed it. A lot. Very slow, very deliberate, no crazy twists or leaps in logic just a relatively simple spy thriller along the lines of The Conversation and the old paranoid political/spy films of the 70s.
As has been said the acting is top notch, particularly by Hoffman and Defoe (although the accents are all over the place, by everyone), and I loved how it was shot. Long, wide shots of a single character not afraid to keep focussed on one person as something else happens off screen, sort of reminded me of Soderbergh a little.
I don't quite see how the ending is a big "fuck you" to anyone. The possibility of that exact scenario happening at any time was there throughout the entire film, it certainly wasn't a surprise or came from out of the blue. From what I understand of the book the threat of that happening looms a lot larger than in the film but I still felt it was there in the film enough to make the ending feel quite probable.

MisterAnarchy · 20-01-2015 12:21am

The film started well and it was ticking along nicely until it hit a brick wall about an hour in .
Then it changed direction for 20-25 minutes where very little happened and it got bogged down.

It was like they had an idea for a film but just gave up after an hour .

With a better director and a tighter script more like the book it had potential but the end product was a poor film.

Mc Love · 01-02-2015 6:00pm

I really enjoyed and contrary to others I really did get an understanding how little trust he placed in the americans and his superiors.

Plus Frank Underwoods wife is just as bad (and hot) in this as she is HOC!

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

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