Beirut

A progressively ineffective thriller, Beirut follows former U.S. diplomat Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) as he reluctantly agrees to return to the Middle East after an old friend (Mark Pellegrino’s Cal) is abducted and held for ransom – with the confusing narrative detailing Mason’s continuing efforts at successfully negotiating the safe return of said friend. Filmmaker Brad Anderson kicks Beirut off with a fair degree of promise, as the movie, written by Tony Gilroy, boasts a strong opening that effectively establishes the volatile environment in which the story transpires – with Hamm’s typically commanding turn as the central character heightening the film’s decidedly auspicious vibe. It’s only as the picture segues into its less and less compelling midsection that one’s interest begins to flag, as scripter Gilroy delivers a slow-moving second act overflowing with tedious and mostly nonsensical political conversations – with the movie’s arms-length feel compounded by an almost total lack of fully-developed, three-dimensional figures (ie most of these people feel like mouthpieces for Gilroy’s perpetually impenetrable sensibilities). And although Anderson occasionally alleviates the mostly uninvolving atmosphere with compelling sequences, Beirut is, for the most part, a palpable misfire that often seems to be daring the viewer to comfortably follow the convoluted plot. (And what’s the deal with Anderson’s reliance on excessively ugly visuals?)

** out of ****