Rental Review – Traitor (2008)

Last week, we watched Traitor (imdb, amazon.com), a Jeffrey Nachmanoff film featuring Don Cheadle (The Oceans 11 series, Hotel Rwanda).

The film follows the story of Samir Horn, a defected American solider, devout Muslim, as he begins more involved with a terrorist cell planning an attack on the United States and the government agents trying to learn more about his terrorist cell and the impending attack.

Overall, this PG-13 movie provided an entertaining 114 minutes as Samir’s story unfolds and the viewer learns more about him. The film does a fine job in giving enough evidence to leave you confused and wondering if he’s a good guy caught up in something about his head or if he’s really worth the “high-value target” status given to him by the government.

Some of the characters lacked the development that would have set this movie on the top of the mountain, while some of the characters that are well-developed seem unbelievable. The film spends a great deal of time building up the plot pulling you toward the climax; however, the story seems to end far too abruptly after that. With ten more minutes, the unfinished subplots and new questions could be answered easily.

If you’re looking for something to rent on a Friday night and feel like something a bit more serious, try out Traitor.