All the Old Knives

The scene is set in a fine restaurant where "Pelham" (Chris Pine) and ex-girlfriend "Celia" (Thandiwe Newton) and sharing some wine and considering who betrayed them many years earlier when their CIA operation around the hijacking of an airliner in Vienna went wrong. Ostensibly, "Pelham" is leading an investigation into the identity of the mole - it could be either of them, for all we know, or it could be their boss "Compton" (Sir Jonathan Pryce)... Sadly, though, John Le Carré this isn't. The narrative uses Pine's character as the conduit to interrogate all the potential suspects, and sadly that drags us into the solidly melodramatic aspects of his relationship with "Celia". On the plus side, that allows him to do what he has been trying to do ever since "Star Trek" (2009) - get his ass out on screen, but otherwise it is a terribly slowly paced affair. The espionage elements are largely subsumed into the relationship drama and frankly, neither Pine nor Newton have much to do in this dialogue heavy drudge of a film. It looks good, the production has a style to it; but quite simply not enough happens to keep it stimulating, the soporific lighting starts to take effects and after about 45 minutes I was really quite bored with it all. The ending is quite quirky, but it was all too little too late for me.