A smart honest rookie cop goes undercover, broken to the edge and survives, sympathizes with the gang and eventually rises above the dilemma and does the right thing. Each of us has come across at least one movie with a similar storyline. What makes the writers, directors and film makers revisit this theme that has been told over and over? Going away from the glamorous and over-the-top Bond or Ethan Hunt style spy movies, the closest you would come across in terms of reality are these undercover thrillers. If they are done well, there is an immediate connect with the audience, they root for the protagonist, they empathize with the emotions leading to repetitive views and healthy box office collections. Movies based on white supremacist antagonists in Hollywood are not common. While they come sporadically, featuring mainstream actors is rarer like American History X, A Time to Kill etc.
Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) is a loner but highly intellectual FBI agent eager to make a mark. An imminent threat alert drives the department over the edge to investigate and identify the source of the threat and the entire department directs their focus on radical Islamic terrorism. When officer Angela (Toni Collette) suggests a possibility of domestic terrorism involving right wing fascist groups, her superiors and peers ridicules her except Nate. Angela manages to convince her boss and requests for Nate to go undercover as she has seen him before on how he could connect with suspects and get them to talk. Using her years of undercover experience, she gives a crash course to Nate on how he could infiltrate a potential fascist group which can lead him to connect with the nationwide leader who provokes through fascism Dallas Wolf (Tracy Letts).
Having not followed Daniel Radcliffe's filmography except for the initial Harry Potter movies, I had nothing to expect of his performance or his script choices. But definitely looks like he has come a long way. There are moments in the movie which doesn't quite add up - some of them plainly contrived while others loosely written, but Radcliffe shoulders the burden of patching them up and even turns some of them into gripping, gritty and soulful sequences. The supporting cast gives good performances as well if we ignore some clichéd characters here and there. There are 2 important points of note that transcends to real world on how radicalization occurs - a charismatic leader delivering an irresponsible speech not knowing the consequences, brainwashing the children at a very tender age before they could understand and decide for themselves.
Going to the technical departments, the runtime is crisp with the screenplay and editing departments that knows where to indulge and where to be brief. The background score is an asset to the movie that varies by the mood and at times even sets it up. While it has its overwhelming positives, it is not a smooth road always especially towards the end when Radcliffe's character attempts to convince too many people. Also the character Gerry Conway played by Sam Trammell has a sudden change to the character arc where he goes from a loving family man, a rational thinker but with a fascist mindset to a downright radical ready to give up his life in a spur of the moment. However there are enough elements to keep the audience at the edge of their seats leading up to the suspenseful climax even if one could guess how it might end from a mile away.
A Daniel Radcliffe show that is taut, thrilling and insightful.
Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) is a loner but highly intellectual FBI agent eager to make a mark. An imminent threat alert drives the department over the edge to investigate and identify the source of the threat and the entire department directs their focus on radical Islamic terrorism. When officer Angela (Toni Collette) suggests a possibility of domestic terrorism involving right wing fascist groups, her superiors and peers ridicules her except Nate. Angela manages to convince her boss and requests for Nate to go undercover as she has seen him before on how he could connect with suspects and get them to talk. Using her years of undercover experience, she gives a crash course to Nate on how he could infiltrate a potential fascist group which can lead him to connect with the nationwide leader who provokes through fascism Dallas Wolf (Tracy Letts).
Having not followed Daniel Radcliffe's filmography except for the initial Harry Potter movies, I had nothing to expect of his performance or his script choices. But definitely looks like he has come a long way. There are moments in the movie which doesn't quite add up - some of them plainly contrived while others loosely written, but Radcliffe shoulders the burden of patching them up and even turns some of them into gripping, gritty and soulful sequences. The supporting cast gives good performances as well if we ignore some clichéd characters here and there. There are 2 important points of note that transcends to real world on how radicalization occurs - a charismatic leader delivering an irresponsible speech not knowing the consequences, brainwashing the children at a very tender age before they could understand and decide for themselves.
Going to the technical departments, the runtime is crisp with the screenplay and editing departments that knows where to indulge and where to be brief. The background score is an asset to the movie that varies by the mood and at times even sets it up. While it has its overwhelming positives, it is not a smooth road always especially towards the end when Radcliffe's character attempts to convince too many people. Also the character Gerry Conway played by Sam Trammell has a sudden change to the character arc where he goes from a loving family man, a rational thinker but with a fascist mindset to a downright radical ready to give up his life in a spur of the moment. However there are enough elements to keep the audience at the edge of their seats leading up to the suspenseful climax even if one could guess how it might end from a mile away.
A Daniel Radcliffe show that is taut, thrilling and insightful.