Closed Circuit ** (2013, Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Jim Broadbent) – Movie Review

Struggling with his English accent, Eric Bana is miscast and glum as Martin Rose, a Brit barrister charged with defending an immigrant accused of masterminding a Borough Market bombing. This promising London-set conspiracy spy thriller looks smart but moves sluggishly and unconvincingly and is a real disappointment.

This act of terrorism kills loads of innocent civilians and only one of the bombers survives. For the subsequent trial at the Old Bailey, Martin’s colleague in defending accused spy Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto) is the sprightly Claudia (Rebecca Hall), a special advocate for the defence.

There are two problems: (1) there’s secret evidence in court that only she can see and (2) the duo previously had an affair, which could compromise everything. Soon their lives in jeopardy and the ex-lovers will need to work (and play) together to survive and solve the mystery. Obviously, they’ve still got a thing for each other.

There’s a lot of running around central London locations, and that’s quite fun, and the film’s acceptable as a version of the old B-movie thrillers from the 50s that used to be on TV a lot and have been quietly laid to rest. It’s got some interesting ideas on its mind, but it struggles to carve out a dynamic screenplay with good dialogue.

It wants to be a posh, issue-led thriller and it turns out just to be old-fashioned hokum. John Crowley’s direction goes through the motions but doesn’t really get anywhere.

It says a lot that that appealing and talented actress Hall is the right fit for her role but she as stranded as Bana. And it’s symptomatic of a disappointing film gone oddly askew that, in a twitchy, nervous, unreal performance Jim Broadbent is unusually poor as the Attorney General. Even the Closed Circuit idea doesn’t really get anywhere. I felt a bit sorry for the actors, badly exposed, but doing their best.

The shaky screenplay by Steven Knight, who wrote Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, is mainly at fault here. He also wrote 2013’s Hummingbird, another shaky London-set thriller and the same year’s Locke (with Tom Hardy), which is much better.

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© Derek Winnert 2013 Movie Review

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