Movie Reviews

Writer Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) and director John Crowley (Boy A) join forces in “Closed Circuit”, a neat little John Le Carré-like thriller about domestic terrorism. Following an explosion in London, barrister Martin Rose (Eric Bana) is the pompous prick that will be defending the Turkish immigrant accused of being the mastermind behind the bombing. And then there’s Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall), the Special Advocate who will represent the client after the case goes to closed session at the request of MI5. What neither of them mentioned to their superiors, is that they used to have an affair. And why would they. It’s not as if anyone will find out seeing as there’s zero chemistry between Bana and Hall.

Add an unconvincing plot and some pretty awful dialogues and you have a movie on your hands where the DVD cover looks a lot more promising than the movie actually is. Now, this may look like it’s all the writer’s fault but once the clumsily directed action sequences kick in in the second half, you’ll find that the director is equally to blame.