Anton Corbijn's
A Most Wanted Man is one of those movies I can appreciate, but will likely never have the desire to sit through again. Funny enough, you could say the same of his previous film,
The American, which was my introduction to the filmmaker.
The American was a surprisingly restrained film in almost every aspect of its being-from the images we saw, the music that complimented them and on to the central performance from George Clooney. In many ways it was a break into the studio system for Corbijn while showing the suits he very much had his own way of telling a story. If
A Most Wanted Man does anything with this kind of power it actually plays more in tune with what we have grown accustomed to in the genre of spy thrillers while still keeping the pacing at a slow boil and the action to a minimum. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this of course, especially when you have the source material of John le Carré (
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) to work with and as well pedigreed a cast as is on display here. By virtue of its cast and credentials alone this would strike most as an interesting film, but as a mature audience you come to actually appreciate the film for the line of thinking it promotes. It is a slow, methodical film that deals as much in the details of its plot as it represents the perceived perception of man in his many different incarnations. This theme, while heavily influenced by the title, is demonstrated in Corbijn's film by how individuals may be portrayed in certain circles as perfectly respectable, harmless even yet in others are wanted for possible terror motives. Obviously, the film depicts an extreme case of this nature, but it still conveys the necessary needs to see the bigger picture and describes how recognizing the smaller aspects might compliment said bigger picture rather than going bullet by bullet and crossing them off. It is an intriguing approach and one that makes you consider the nature of absolutes while never painting any of its multiple characters as necessarily bad or evil, but simply as people trying to do a job and come off as successful as possible. It is impossible to facilitate a fair and unbiased opinion in every situation, but
A Most Wanted Man's characters strive for this ideal in each of their actions.
