Back in 2010, Argentinian thriller El Secreto de Sus Ojos beat out Michael Haneke's brilliant The White Ribbon and French gem A Prophet for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award. That's how damn impressive it is. So it's not surprising that it eventually was given the Hollywood makeover. The question is does this star-studded, LA-based remake separate itself from the original and carve out its own place in the crowded crime genre? Sort of, but not really. But kind of. The backdrop has adjusted from Argentina's Dirty Wars to the more familiar War on Terror, planting this update into a messy and uneasy political landscape that creates a suitably tense and morally ambiguous atmosphere for the movie. The details of the grisly case at the film's core have gone relatively unchanged though, which is a shame for those who've seen the original, but should rivet newcomers with its gut-punching twists that span a 13-year time period. As the tormented investigator with a personal link to the victim, Chiwetel Ejiofor owns every second of screen time he's given with his commanding presence, whilst Julia Roberts is emotionally raw as the grieving mother with FBI resources at her disposal. Unfortunately Nicole Kidman drops the ball as the cautious but realistic State's attorney who holds a flame for ex-co-worker Ejiofor, never fully convincing in a steely role that requires more grit than what Kidman can produce. Shot and scored with the sombre mood you would expect, and wisely kept to a taut sub-two-hour runtime, Secret in Their Eyes fails to better (or even match) its forerunner yet elevates itself above the standard whodunit fare with two powerhouse performances and an absorbing central murder case.
Review of Secret in Their Eyes
