Rendition

Review by Sean Lynch

It must be that time of year again! The studios have churned out all the cheesy blockbuster flicks that they could possibly throw their cashed up CGI companies at in order to line their pockets with an array of multi-coloured bills - so now it's time for the Oscar contending 'Think Pieces' with 'plots' to over run our screens.

Not that films with substance - and political commentary - are unwelcome. Sometime it's good to stimulate your brain with a little more than a giant criminal made from sand taking on a guy who can shoot webs from his wrist.

However, there is such thing as to much of a good thing - and you can't help but feel that The Kingdom and Rendition aren't going to be the last we hear of US/Middle Eastern relationships. And to be honest, do we really want to spend our hard earned to see something we hear and see on TV ad nauseum anyway? There are no secrets in the world anymore - we know the Government isn't doing things by the book, so what's the point of rubbing it in our faces?

An all star cast is on board for Rendition including Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard and Alan Arkin, for this so-so thriller from director Gavin Hood (the brain behind the Oscar winning Tsotsi) which takes a look at the US Government's "extraordinary rendition" policy (which allows the US to essentially abduct anyone they deem to be a terrorist threat, send them to a Middle Eastern country, and torture them for information) which was brought it by the Clinton administration.

Witherspoon stars as the pregnant American wife of an Egyptian born chemical engineer who disappears on a flight from South Africa to America. While Witherspoon tries to track her husband down, CIA analyst (a rather monotonal Gyllenhaal) resides at the secret detention facility where Anwar El-Ibrahimi is being held - and soon begins to question his assignment as he is brought into the world of unorthodox interrogations.

The cast seem somewhat under used - with each seeming to have been rationed one 'Oscar clip' scene each. And, aside from those brief moments where they are allowed to truly shine (especially Streep and Arkin), they all seem to be on auto pilot. However, credit must go to Hood for the look he has achieved for the Middle Eastern locations (in particular a scene in which Gyllenhaal sits on the balcony of a Moroccan bar at night) which just look sensational.

While you will find yourself engulfed throughout most of the film (it's definitely a slow burner), Rendition very much a take it or leave it flick. It's by no means a dud, but if it happens to slip you by at the cinemas - you're not likely going to regret it, or be any less informed about the sad state of our world.

2.5 out of 5

Rendition
Australian release: 22nd November, 2007
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard
Director: Gavin Hood
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