Our Kind of Traitor
Director: Susanna White
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård
Duration: 107 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Perry (Ewan McGregor) and Gail (Naomie Harris) are on holiday in Marrakech in an attempt to save their troubled marriage. He is a poetics professor in a bit of a professional and personal rut; she a successful barrister. When Gail leaves the dinner table to take a work phone call, Perry observes the boisterous behaviour of a group of men at the bar.

One of them, Dima (Stellan Skarsgård) ambles over and invites Perry for a drink. Unsure how long Gail will be – and desperate for a little bit of distraction from the strained interactions with her – Perry agrees, little knowing that within less than 24 hours he will be dragged into an intrigue of international and dangerous proportions.

For Dima reveals to Perry that he is the chief money launderer for the Russian mafia and he wants to defect with his beloved extended family to the UK. And he needs Perry to start the ball rolling, by giving him a USB drive containing some highly volatile information for him to hand over to MI6 on his return to the UK.

It is not a stretch to say that several of the best small and big screen spy films over the decades have been sourced from a John le Carré novel. The prolific author – and former spy – has graced the literary world with some exceptionally well-crafted novels over a writing career that spans six decades. And 2016 happens to be the 50th anniversary of the release of the film version of one of his most acclaimed novels, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. It has also seen the release of the hugely popular TV adaptation of The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, and this latest big-screen effort, an adaptation of his 2010 novel of the same name.

Our Kind of Traitor tells a highly topical tale – tackling as it does the growing influence of licit and illicit Russian money in Europe and Britain; and the ensuing corruption that plagues part of the upper echelons of the political establishment. It is an intriguing an intelligent story, indicative that Le Carré still understands what makes the world tick and that the undercurrents that swirl beneath the façade of ordinary, everyday society are still as murky as they were during the height of the Cold War.

Events progress at a pace that is remarkably low-key compared to what you would expect from a movie of this ilk

While the film boasts all the makings of a good spy thriller (an intriguing premise, shady... double-crossing characters on either side of the good/bad divide and myriad picturesque locales from Marrakech to Moscow and London to Paris) events progress at a pace that is remarkably low-key compared to what you would expect from a movie of this ilk, with just a smattering of effective action. The pace does threaten to flag at points and audiences used to James Bond-like shenanigans might get a bit fidgety.

That said, overall Our Kind of Traitor is smartly and solidly directed by Susanna White from a screenplay adaptation by Hossein Amini who scores high points with the characters, for they are particularly well fleshed-out and real people you can engage with and much more than just hackneyed spy movie characters.

The film is set in myriad picturesque locations.The film is set in myriad picturesque locations.

Both McGregor and Harris skilfully epitomise the ordinary couple at a crossroads in their marriage, who find themselves torn out of their comfort zone and placed into harm’s way by circumstances beyond their control.

It helps that the script never calls for either of them to suddenly become action heroes. They both rely on their innate sense of justice and decency to react to the situation they are in and the often amoral characters they encounter.

Damien Lewis is note-perfect as the dogged MI6 man, frustrated by the bureaucracy he has to face in his determination to bring the felons in his sight to justice. Lewis adds enough layers and mystery to the character to make him just ambiguous enough to make his true motives unclear... a trait he has of course perfected on his many years on TV’s Homeland.

Excellent as McGregor, Harris and Lewis are, however, it is really Skarsgård’s film. The Swedish actor infuses the larger-than-life, flamboyant Dima with equal parts energy and emotion.

His bear-like physique and overall brashness never overshadowing his performance as this man of many facets – criminal yet honourable, a bon viveur and family man, a steely eyed and dangerous being yet vulnerable and funny – each of which he projects with consummate ease to create a memorable character.

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