Plot
A high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds together two ex-lovers on the defense team - testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 5.5/10 (239 voted)
Director:John Crowley
Storyline
A high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds together two ex-lovers on the defense team - testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy.
"From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the
secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few." John Updike
Thrillers involving international heavy weights like the super British
spy agency, MI5, are durable, reeking of intrigue and inscrutability.
Such is the case of Closed Circuit with its terrorism incident killing
scores of civilians and a subsequent trial at Old Bailey, where Martin
Rose (Eric Bana) has been appointed defense counsel for accused spy,
Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto). Many questions are unanswered
before the trial, not the least of the answers sealed in documentation
not even the accused may see.
The plot has intelligent qualities; the execution not so. Martin's
colleague, Claudia (Rebecca Hall), is a special advocate for the
defense—only she may see the secret information. Unfortunately they had
an affair, a fact that may compromise their case. One of the main
players in the investigation is a young boy, a plot turn with
possibilities but never fully exploited.
And so it goes, nothing really new after that. Some good guys turn out
to be bad, MI5 is not transparent, and the accused is not who we
thought he was. The closed circuit motif, introduced at the titles and
interspersed throughout, is not as important as the title and
occasional shots would suggest. Except for the shots of London around
the Eye, nothing seems to be worth spending millions on the film for.
After the secrets have been revealed and the plot twist dutifully
rendered, you may leave the theater feeling you missed something. You
didn't. It's all a part of the requirements of the genre, perhaps a
comforting feeling that you knew it all along. As for me, I missed what
it could have been in my favorite city in the world.
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