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Traitor: Terrorism For Mass Consumption
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If Don Cheadle’s latest pic ‘Traitor’ says anything, it’s that the West can package and sell anything -- even terrorism. The film premiered in New York City on Thursday.
Cheadle stars as a Mulsim American caught between “traditional Islam and the West,” or at least, that’s what the dialogue tells us. There’s a certain air of self-importance about the film, as if Cheadle and director Jeffrey Nachmanoff have something of consequence to say.
What that might be, we will never know. The film never lives up to its lofty ambitions, evolving quickly into a run-of-the-mill spy flick. Cheadle is restrained and stoic, never letting us into the head of this allegedly conflicted man. And his adversaries played by Guy Pearce, Neal Mcdonough, and the shape shifting Jeff Daniels could have been lifted out of an old James Bond movie. But at least Bond has a sense of humor. That is seriously lacking here.
What ‘Traitor’ offers us is terrorism polished and refined for mass consumption. The scenes may feel gritty, but the milieu is as fantastic and unrealistic as Dr. No’s SPECTRE. Like a McDonald’s Happy Meal, jihad has been dolled up, shot with filler, and processed to appeal to an unsophisticated palate.
Which might be acceptable if the film weren’t going under the guise of serious social commentary. As it is, ‘Traitor’ is as fluffy as ‘The House Bunny’ but lacks that pic’s deeper meaning.
