| Original Score: B | Feb 18, 2012

Much harder to see coming is the film's denouement, but that's only because of its extreme silliness.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 31, 2009

Traitor has its faults. It's overlong, contrived in parts and ultimately resorts to some predictable tactics. The irresistible question is whether the US would be making films like this if 9/11 hadn't happened.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2009

More carefully measured than many of its American contemporaries, Traitor doesn't match the heights of Syriana, but sits comfortably above, say, The Kingdom for mapping out the complexities of its issues .

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2009

The moral maze is not quite as murky as it should be, a suspicion that we may have misjudged the hero whisks the film back into the realms of fiction, and detracts from the issues it raises.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2009

Some well-meant but fantastically flaccid and perfunctory gestures of friendship towards the Muslim world are the foundation of this empty thriller.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 27, 2009

The mounting fear and isolation of the Cheadle character puts us in an interesting place: the war on terror is reconfigured as a tussle of the soul.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2009

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2009

Before it reverts to standard thriller tropes, this tale of an Islamic double agent takes a more thoughtful attitude to East-West relations than one might expect.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 27, 2009

It isn't often that you see a thriller about international terrorism as even-handed as Jeffrey Nachmanoff's Traitor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2009

An intelligent, action-packed thriller, made on a modest budget with no mega stars? Phew! Didn't see that coming.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2009

As an attempt to delve into the murky reaches of fundamentalism and fanaticism it displays its ambitions.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 14, 2008

Cheadle can do pretty well anything, and in this film, he often has to.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 7, 2008

The Traitor manages to get right is what so many other post-9/11 films got wrong: it does not confuse criticism of American policy with an attack on American ideals.

| Nov 7, 2008

A timely story, some welcome complexity, and a compelling performance elevate this story of terrorism above the usual bang-bang.

| Original Score: B | Aug 29, 2008

Promising premise devolves into a by-the-numbers espionage thriller.

Full Review | Aug 29, 2008

Traitor gets a leg up thanks to a solid cast, including Guy Pearce, an underused Jeff Daniels and chiefly Cheadle's Horn, whose quiet dignity makes his blurred loyalties believable and his true sympathies indefinable.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 29, 2008

Traitor becomes too busy, ultimately frustrating, and never delivers on its tantalizing promise of offering a little insight into terrorists' motives -- and it's even got an inside man.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 29, 2008

The wait isn't worth it in this fearmongering, opportunistic political/spy thriller, a slippery entertainment that's all feints and few punches thrown at a fight card of indistinguishable terrorists, Muslim and otherwise.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 28, 2008

The script seldom rises above formula, but its respectful treatment of Islam is both unusual and welcome.

| Aug 27, 2008