Rendition [Blu-ray] [2017]

Unsure why this film got so many bad reviews, both here on Amazon or rotten tomatoes, etc.This is not a B&W film where we know exactly who are the baddies and goodies, or with Hollywood car chasing and the Calvary arriving to save everybody.It is rather slow and take the point of view of individuals from various sides, looking at them as human beings.It felt more personal than political, and somehow doesn't reach to a solution or conclusion, beside the human tragedy.It also shows Meryl Streep in a different role, which was a bonus!

"I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything" A line from the 16th Century William Shakespeare play; The Merchant of Venice Act III, Scene II. This dramatic film made for excellent viewing, and with an wonderfully talented cast, Peter Sarsgaard playing Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin) understudy Alan Smith, has the task of verifying a former peer (Omar Metwally) from his alma mater. However, he has been taken away under counter terrorism measures back to the place of his birth Egypt. (Spoiler Alert) This is were another storyline in the film takes a twist, you get your haunch verified when the target of a suicide bomber is actually the father of the daughter who has befriended the would be bomber. The film is wonderfully written and the cast is exceptional featuring Meryl Streep, JK Simmons, Igal Naor.

This is a very well made film dealing with a true nightmare having been held at gunpoint by military police in Peru many years ago for not having my passport on my person ... and my money and possessions removed from me , and no I didn't get them back !!! When you have automatic weapons pointed at you you don't complain either so, Those of us who are lucky enough to live in a safe democratic society should cherish what we have andEnjoy this film it's great .

"The US does NOT torture prisoners" says Meryl Streep while simultaneously ordering the kidnapping and torture of an innocent man based on flimsy 'evidence'. That sentence sums up the entire US foreign policy: lies, lies and more lies, while relentlessly pursuing its goals at any cost. An innocent man is tortured, while we see other young men radicalised to the point of becoming suicide bombers, because their brothers have also been tortured and killed. This movie has attempted to show the obscene world we now live in, where anyone can be punished for crimes they are not even aware of, with no due process. all in the name of a New World Order. The cast have done their jobs well, and most character portrayals are very nuanced. The world is not black and white, there are no 100% goodies or 100% baddies, and everyone has a story that has led them to this point. A well made movie.

This movie is over ten years old, prompted by post-9/11 concerns about Guantanamo Bay and the apprehending of suspected terrorists without due process of law. Films like this may be fiction, but give us insights into a hidden, unsavoury world of politics and government, where it's not just news that may be fake, but just about everything is not what it seems. Very Shakespeare - so when Jake Gyllenhaal's character Douglas quotes the Bard, he puts it all into perspective: "I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything". In other words, it doesn't matter whether someone is guilty or innocent if they are tortured to the point of saying anything to make the torture stop - what they say cannot be held reliable as truth. Douglas, however, is the ray of hope and does what he believes to be right in the face of the cruelty and brutality that he has witnessed. Hard to watch but very powerful.

Still a good film that looks at a very difficult subject without overstating it's case or outstaying it's welcome by being overlong. It remains a work of fiction in the political thriller category and has such has moments when the sympathy is overlaid ( I wondered why the distraught wife had to be pregnant wasn't the horrendous fact that she didn't have a clue where her husband was or how he was being treated enough?) and the ending was clever but rather convoluted for a film that wants you to believe it is based on what really happens. Yet it did give good insights and kept me interested and also wondering how many times a rendition like this has happened to innocent people in the name of terrorism and political point scoring. Add to this some fine performances and its certainly a film worth watching.

Please don't read the one star reviews before watching the movie - they did not see the same movie as I did. These days it is unusual for me to get through an entire film in one sitting. I just had to keep watching this one. Despite what some others have said, I think the acting was of a high level by everyone involved. If I can single out Reese Witherspoon - if only to contradict one particular reviewer - over the years I have been left undecided about how good an actress she really is. In this movie she has a small percentage of screen time, but puts in a GREAT performance that will be one of the many things I remember about the movie.

Innocent Egyptian scientist gets caught up in extraordinary rendition. His wife tries and fails to get things moving in DC, and it is left to rookie CIA operative Gyllenhaal to save the day. It's a bit more complex than that, but this is effectively what the story boils down to: human misery trumps any attempt to get to grips with the paranoia that caused it in the first place. Though, to be fair, the film largely eschews a simple dichotomy of good vs. bad, with the notable exception of the jihadist masterminds and the Glenn Close character overseeing the US torture programme.