The final moments of Anton Corbijn's latest film A Most Wanted Man are both gratifying and poetic. Starring an impeccable cast that includes the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, and Robin Wright, the film is based on the novel by John le Carré, and is a tension-driven and smartly paced thriller ride that makes a mark as one of the year's best rides.
Hoffman carries the film with a calm, but engaging performance. He can go from a charming man to cold hearted bastard in seconds. His German accent is very well done. Robin Wright is also good as Martha Sullivan, the American representative of the film. Willem Dafoe continues a good streak in movies this year
The story is interesting and some scenes are pretty involving and suspenseful. The directing is adequate, for a film like this, but I'm not a big fan of the genre. Like many espionage thrillers, especially those from the same writer, the movie is extremely slow paced and hard to follow (I only fully understood what was going on, in the film, after reading a detailed synopsis). I might have a bias towards this type of movie but, for me, this one is pretty boring. With that said it is well made (for this type of film) and Hoffman is outstanding in the lead (I'm really going to miss him); his German accent sucks but so do all of the fake accents in this movie. Fans of the genre will probably like it a lot more than me and it is a good tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Corbijn has added one brilliant, but hard to spot, inside joke: when one of the suspects tries to escape from his pursuer, he enters a dancing where a song is being played by a band called Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (German-American Friendship). During the climax of the film, the subtlety of choosing exactly this song becomes clear.
It's a beautiful beautiful movie. you will like it if you like the genre. A Most Wanted Man was Philip Seymour Hoffman's last movie. He did a terrific job at portraying Günther Bachmann to a tee. He possessed an incredible talent. I'm truly sorry he's gone.
Good Bye to the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman
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