Movie Review for Rendition

Summary: A thriller that centers on Isabella El-Ibrahimi, the American wife of Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. Isabella desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Mike McGranaghan of Aisle Seat (7/0)
            Rendition is an important film. Art, by definition, is supposed to provoke, to spur emot...

By Brian Webster of Apollo Guide (7/0)
            Works both as a tense thriller (complete with a skilfully handled time twist), and as an urgent w...

By Lori Hoffman of Atlantic City Weekly (7/0)
            Rendition gives its take on this practice with enough complexity to keep us engaged — and on the ...

By Marjorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            The script by Kelley Sane is full of outrage but not enough depth.

By Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun (7/0)
            Rendition grabs hold of a super-charged subject and squeezes all the life out of it.

By Jamie Russell of BBC (7/0)
            It's a weapon of mass distraction, designed to stop you realising this is about as challenging as...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Wesley Morris of Boston Globe (7/0)
            ...a reminder that, in the wrong hands, political outrage can be a slog.

By Fred Topel of Can Magazine (7/0)
            This is the kind of movie I'm fine with. I don't seek out movies about political issues where hor...

By Leigh Singer of Channel 4 Film (7/0)
            A watchable but rigged and strangely forgettable drama that loses its nerve in the way its real-l...

By Sean O'Connell of Charlotte Weekly (7/0)
            Probes deep into a serious problem, and will entertain those who enjoy current events sprinkled o...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            What the film documents is that we have lost faith in due process and the rule of law, and have f...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            ...terrifying, intelligent...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            ...timely without being gripping.

By Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor (7/0)
            Scenes of powerful realism alternate with melodrama.

By Todd Hertz of Christianity Today (7/0)
            Rendition's approach feels additionally preachy and one-noted because its message is bigger than ...

By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (7/0)
            In the end, there's enough excitement, dimension and an involved level of acting by an ensemble o...

By James Rocchi of Cinematical (7/0)
            Hood's direction globe-trots with a spring in its step, and he's got a handle on action, too.

By Karina Montgomery of Cinerina (7/0)
            Rendition's heart is in the right place, but feels like a desperate single attempt to get it all ...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Cole Smithey of ColeSmithey.com (7/0)
            After overblown stories of mass walkouts by critics during its Toronto debut, "Rendition" proves ...

By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
            The script isn't particularly impressive and with so many films exploring similar material, the f...

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (7/0)
            It all adds up to a dilution of the real issues at hand ... With friends like this movie, who nee...

By Sukhdev Sandhu of Daily Telegraph (7/0)
            The audience is unduly flattered, never once forced to question its own complicity in allowing th...

By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Thanks to the current administration, Hollywood now has mroe villains than in the Cold War era.

By Dezhda Mountz of E! Online (7/0)
            ...the movie should be moving at a much brisker pace.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Brian Orndorf of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Rendition wastes a serious amount of time and effort force-feeding the viewer lessons on how inju...

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            If you're going to lecture us on the evils of torture, you better not make a film where in the en...

By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (7/0)
            The right ingredients for a timely political thriller are here-good cast, relevant concept-but Ga...

By Angie Errigo of Empire Magazine (7/0)
            Disappointingly dull given the explosive subject matter, this at least attempts to get a message ...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            You could argue that this earnest, wooden slab of liberal agitprop scarcely deserves an audience.

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            I have no qualms with any of the performances, or with the film's individual components. It's the...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            A good film that's at its best when it's not talking so much.

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            A naive, poorly-thought out, badly-reasoned left-wing(nut) manifesto that gives the Right all the...

By Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International (7/0)
            Every aspect of Gavin Hood's direction underlines the "importance" of the project.

By Chris Cabin of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            In many ways, Rendition can be best described as a fantasy.

By Victoria Alexander of FilmsInReview.com (7/0)
            As soon as the hood comes out, start talking. Rendition leaves the question of guilt or innocence...

By Karl French of Financial Times (6/1)
            This certainly isn’t dull, but it is a touch uncinematic and more than a little preachy.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Karl French of Financial Times (7/0)
            This certainly isn’t dull, but it is a touch uncinematic and more than a little preachy.

By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (7/0)
            [The torture] scenes are pretty graphic... but every American should be forced to watch this movi...

By Rick Groen of Globe and Mail (7/0)
            Hot off the headlines and onto the screen, this is a rarity -- a political film that delivers its...

By Michael W. Phillips, Jr. of Goatdog's Movies (7/0)
            The film doesn't know or care who Anwar El-Ibrahimi is outside of how his plight affects the whit...

By Peter Bradshaw of Guardian [UK] (7/0)
            This movie is composed in the increasingly familiar international hectic-mosaic style, with a not...

By Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            There is a crying need to publicly explore the U.S. government's policy of "extraordinary renditi...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Kit Bowen of Hollywood.com (7/0)
            Although South African director Gavin Hood gave us the searing, Oscar-winning foreign film Tsotsi...

By Todd Gilchrist of IGN Movies (7/0)
            Rendition offers a reprieve right when it should really be tightening the screws.

By Robert Hanks of Independent (7/0)
            Rendition is a well-intentioned film, and an enjoyable one, but, in the end, that's not quite the...

By Bruce Kirkland of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            While truth is stranger than fiction, even melodramatic films can focus those truths.

By Andrea Chase of Killer Movie Reviews (7/0)
            An issue that springs from collective fear and the baser instincts it engenders deserves a better...

By Beth Accomando of KPBS.org (7/0)
            It's easy to get outraged over an innocent man being tortured, but shouldn't we be outraged by th...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly (7/0)
            Don’t imagine that you’ll find much beyond lip service to serious public debate in this slick thr...

By Matt Kelemen of Las Vegas CityLife (7/0)
            The film's message is still relevant, but it's already universally recognized how far the executi...

By Nick Schager of Lessons of Darkness (7/0)
            Laughably melodramatic and agonizingly inert.

By Bob Strauss of Los Angeles Daily News (7/0)
            In trying to respect every character's point of view, Hood doesn't reveal enough about any of the...

By Carina Chocano of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            A pat and generic, if serviceable, political thriller.

By Carina Chocano of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            The star-filled political drama has few surprises but gives everyone a chance to shine.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (7/0)
            The stories are unflatteringly forced together, neither of them highlighting the thematic relevan...

By Pete Hammond of Maxim (7/0)
            A political potboiler guaranteed to get your heart racing. It pushes all the buttons these kinds ...

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (7/0)
            A movie about secret government procedures can probably do without a subplot about a terrorist in...

By Duane Dudek of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            It stirs sympathy for one man's plight but little passion over the policy that imprisoned him.

By Colin Covert of Minneapolis Star Tribune (7/0)
            At every turn the screenplay turns geopolitics into Lifetime Channel pablum.

By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
            Rendition proves its own case by not finding an audience for its message -- and that is perhaps m...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (7/0)
            As Hollywood tries to make sense -- or at least drama -- from current events, it is inevitable th...

By David Edelstein of New York Magazine (7/0)
            Rendition has multiple crisscrossing plots, a cliff-hanger climax, and a strong current of hope -...

By Rex Reed of New York Observer (7/0)
            Hot off the headlines, this is one timely thriller that delivers its message with a huge punch an...

By Kyle Smith of New York Post (7/0)
            ...has the depth of a bumper sticker without the brevity.

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (7/0)
            ...a well-meaning, honorable movie. Which is not to say that it is a very good one.

By Prairie Miller of NewsBlaze (6/1)
            While Reese won't take no for an answer from the suits in DC and fights for her man, Meryl Streep...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Jan Stuart of Newsday (7/0)
            Reduces issues of burning domestic urgency to a rubble of burnt melodrama.

By David Ansen of Newsweek (7/0)
            Rendition manages to take an urgent, important topic and turn it into standard Hollywood melodram...

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (7/0)
            Hood's greatest concern is the line between moral courage and cowardice.

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Aims to appear courageous but in the end comes across as mealy-mouthed...its political stance is ...

By Scott Tobias of Onion AV Club (7/0)
            Relevancy isn't the only barometer worth reading here, especially since it's one of the few eleme...

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (7/0)
            Give us a genuine dilemma, put us on the spot. Rendition -- though it is a very good, challenging...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Jason Ferguson of Orlando Weekly (7/0)
            By crafting an intricate and engaging story out of this country's most despicable 'weapon' in the...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Deserves to be commended for just being made.

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (7/0)
            Wavers between tepid star turns and a Romeo and Juliet subplot involving an al Qaeda assassin and...

By Carrie Rickey of Philadelphia Inquirer (7/0)
            Hood squanders the film's considerable starpower by failing to elicit sharp performances from his...

By Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly (7/0)
            Terrific character actors such as J.K. Simmons furrow their brows. Streep responds by speaking in...

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            Three or four years ago, a movie about innocent citizens being pulled into secret torture prisons...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Bill Gibron of PopMatters (5/2)
            Rendition is the result of such pompous over-pronouncements. It's a well-intentioned screed undon...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            While Rendition does show terrible torture, it doesn't quite rethink the cultural context, the co...

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
            And what the heck does this title mean, anyway? Competing with "Things We Lost in the Fire" for i...

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
            And what the heck does this title mean, anyway? Competing with "Things We Lost in the Fire" for i...

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            It's not until the pieces finally start to fall into place that Rendition becomes the hard-hitti...

By Michelle Orange of Reeler (7/0)
            There is a smart, piercing film in here somewhere, but Rendition never fully connects with its su...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Jeffrey Chen of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Does its job, keeping the action involving, but in an increasing pool of U.S.-policy-and-the-Midd...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            We are ambushed by a simplistic storyline that’s more interested in sermonizing and demonizing ...

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            What a cast, indeed. And what a bust as persuasive drama.

By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            ...a limp drama in which too many good actors...get not enough screen time.

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            If these new, allegedly topical movies are to make us feel anything -- to move us toward any acti...

By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (7/0)
            The movie's insistent message about the morality and effectiveness of torture packs an unexpected...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (7/0)
            A movie that has only two major scenes for Streep and one for Arkin has talent to spare.

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            ...a maddening film, maddening in a good way, but maddening nonetheless.

By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            All things considered, it could have been a better movie.

By John Hartl of Seattle Times (7/0)
            What finally gives Rendition its headlong narrative momentum is the sense that we're rarely certa...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            South African director Hood (Tsotsi) turns what could have been yet another Hollywood potboiler i...

By Elliott Noble of Sky Movies (7/0)
            It goes without saying that Rendition is a matter worthy of your utmost attention.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Hollywood kick-starts another Oscar season with a modish globetrotting guilt trip that histrionic...

By Dana Stevens of Slate (7/0)
            Rendition's worst flaw is its political deck-stacking, with its willingness to win the viewer's s...

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            Explores the dark side of the so-called war on terrorism where human rights are ignored by the CI...

By Stuart McGurk of thelondonpaper (7/0)
            A pacy, twisting thriller.

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            A stale, murky drama so oversimplified that its politics boil down to a single tidy, elementary-l...

By Derek Malcolm of This is London (7/0)
            A brave piece of work, but by no means perfect.

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Trevor Johnston of Time Out (4/3)
            A worthwhile but somewhat underwhelming effort, perhaps too level-headed for its own good.

By James Christopher of Times [UK] (7/0)
            http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article267887...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (7/0)
            The filmmakers' clumsy manipulation of the facts to fit their bias misses a golden opportunity to...

By Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            It justly questions whether information gathered through torture is ever reliable, and whether hu...

By Claudia Puig of USA Today (7/0)
            ...falls flat.

By Todd McCarthy of Variety (7/0)
            Even Witherspoon, normally the most spirited of performers who can inject even limited characters...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Matthew Turner of ViewLondon (7/0)
            Rendition is watchable enough thanks to decent direction and strong performances.

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
            Get ready for the absolute worst performance of Meryl Streep's career!

By Prairie Miller of WBAI Web Radio (7/0)
            While Reese's mom-to-be fights for her man, Meryl Streep's ambitious and wicked CIA boss fights f...

By Frank Ochieng of World Voice News (7/0)
            ...housing top-notch actors and their hefty paychecks but nothing else beyond the obviousness of ...

By Christy Lemire of Associated Press (3/4) No reference
            Everything is black and white here, a tremendous disservice considering the complexity of the iss...

By Kevin Courrier of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Hood, who knows what kind of movies win awards, crafts his tale so that every little detail falls...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (3/4) No reference
            The performances are surprisingly lackluster. Witherspoon practically sleepwalks through the whol...

By Adam Fendelman of HollywoodChicago.com (3/4) No reference
            While Rendition is timely and invigoratingly noble, it doesn't really have any perspective. It's ...

By Adam Fendelman of HollywoodChicago.com (3/4) No reference
            While Rendition is timely and invigoratingly noble, it doesn't really have any perspective. It's ...

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (3/4) No reference
            The kind of movie whose own self-importance is a turn off.

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/4) No reference
            Its clumsy efforts are toward an honest and difficult goal, which is to use the resources of main...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            Rendition has been made with an awful lot of volume and outrage, but you wish it had some intelle...

                         Reviews of Rendition
By Shawn Levy of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            The film takes a matter that every American with an ounce of decency should be concerned with and...

By Diana Saenger of ReviewExpress.com (3/4) No reference
            The thought that my life might be turned upside down merely by someone calling me is very frighte...

By Nick Rogers of State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) (3/4) No reference
            A chamber-orchestra cousin to Paul Greengrass's topical symphonies of discussion. Sharp, damning ...

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (3/4) Not Reachable
            or all these faults... the film has many plusses: n unsubtle emotional power that comes through i...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (3/4) Not Reachable
            As is usually the case in movieland, a powerful US agency is the villain. The use of torture is ...

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