Our Kind of Traitor

Directed by Susanna White, Our Kind of Traitor follows a vacationing couple (Ewan McGregor’s Perry and Naomie Harris’ Gail) as they meet and befriend a boisterous Russian named Dima (Stellan Skarsgård) – with the narrative detailing Perry and Gail’s efforts at helping Dima and his family escape the Russian mafia. It’s a decidedly oddball premise that’s employed to decent-enough effect by Susanna White, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Hossein Amini, delivers a watchable yet entirely forgettable endeavor that benefits considerably from its agreeable performances – with McGregor and Harris’ sturdy work here matched (and exceeded) by supporting players Skarsgård, Jeremy Northam, and Damian Lewis. (The latter, cast as a tenacious, somewhat shady government agent, remains the picture’s most entertaining attribute.) There’s little doubt, then, that Our Kind of Traitor‘s inability to become as wholeheartedly enthralling as one might’ve anticipated stems from its small-scale, tough-to-swallow storyline (ie why would Perry and Gail risk their very lives for this man they’ve just met?), and it’s clear, too, that White’s bland sensibilities, coupled with her inability to effectively shoot the movie’s scarce action sequences, paves the way for a midsection and second half that peters out before arriving at its inevitable conclusion – with the end result a passable John le Carré adaptation that is, at the very least, coherent throughout (which can’t be said of most le Carré movies).

**1/2 out of ****