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Rendition | 
 enlarge | Director: Gavin Hood
Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, And Meryl Streep
Studio: New Line Cinema
Category: Movie
This item is no longer available
Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 3203
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 123 Minutes
ASIN: B0014BC3C2
Release Date: August 29, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 Timely and intelligent political thriller November 5, 2007
Karen Franklin (El Cerrito, CA, USA)
26 out of 32 found this review helpful
This movie has it all: Superb direction (by the masterful Gavin Hood of "Crash" fame); a great cast (Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Omar Metwally); a riveting and harrowing plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat; even an interesting twist at the end (which I won't give away) that had us all discussing the movie for an hour afterwards. And if all of that isn't enough, this is an extremely timely topic. Our government's participation in torturing people at secret prisons around the world is something that all American citizens should be discussing and debating. Unfortunately, this engaging thriller is not getting the audience it deserves. The fact that "Saw IV," a warped glorification of brutality, has earned four times as much at the box office as Rendition suggests that for many Americans, out of sight is out of mind and escapism is the name of the game.
A serious film about a serious topic that will make you cringe September 19, 2008
Linda Linguvic (New York City)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This 2007 film is scary. That's because the theme is about the practice of interrogating suspected terrorists in a foreign country where laws against torture do not apply. This practice is called rendition and this film makes it real. It's hard to watch.
The film opens in an American middle class suburb. Reese Witherspoon is playing with her small son when they get a phone call from her husband, Omar Metwally, an Egyptian citizen who has lived in America for 20 years. He tells his wife and son he is on the way home from a business trip and they plan on meeting him at the airport. All seems well.
When he gets off the plane, however, he is detained at the airport and questioned. He is a chemical engineer and the questioners are asking questions about a terrorist bomb plot. He denies everything. He seems clean but Meryl Streep, playing a high powered Washington decision maker, orders him to be put into rendition and he is whisked away to an unnamed middle eastern country and his name erased from the plane's passenger log while his wife and son wait patiently at the airport for a husband and father who has disappeared.
The scene now shifts to an unnamed middle eastern country where Yagal Noor, an Israeli actor of Jewish Iraqi descent, is cast in the role of the interrogator. Jake Gyllenhaal is cast as an American diplomat, who has just lost a co-worker in a suicide bombing, and has been promoted to assist Yagal Noor with the questioning. It is awful. I am cringing now just writing about it as scenes of waterboarding and electric shock torture are shown in detail. There is also a subplot about the interrogator's daughter and a suicide bomber which expands the story.
In the meantime Reese Witherspoon is trying desperately to find her husband. She seeks out an old boyfriend, played by Peter Sarsgaard who works for a senator, played by Alan Arkin. Even when they confront Meryl Streep, there is a blank wall of silence. Jake Gyllenhaal, however, is beginning to have a change of heart as the torturing goes on.
This is a serious film about a serious topic. It will make you cringe and it will also make you think. I give it a high recommendation but it is not recommended for the faint of heart.
Excellent and intelligent political thriller February 10, 2008
H. Schneider (wechselhaft)
28 out of 36 found this review helpful
The film itself is flawless. After spending Chinese New year stuck at home with a few dozen movies and plenty of spare time, I can say that most other films that I watched were solidly in the 2 to 3 star class, while this one has everything for it: a solid story, based on current political events, a first class cast, excellent cinematography (the No Country For Old Men crowd might get their desert pictures from here too!), and even a good copy for me.
And then as an add-on the odd reviews here by the political wackos. Very entertaining, if they were not so sad.
The subject is, as the title says, rendition, i.e. the practice of transferring suspects to other countries without proper procedure. A suspect can be anybody by accident. The plot here involves a young CIA agent in 'North Africa', who is not used to the practices, it is his first 'torture case'. He develops a conscience and acts upon it. In parallel we watch a young local couple, the daughter of the police chief, who ran away from home, with her boy friend, an art student, who is of course also something else. The story is skillfully intervowen with the interrogation of the suspect from the US.
Recommendable.
even better than Elah March 11, 2008
J. W. Hickey (Manhattan area)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After all the hype about its poor box office receipts, I was wary about a serious political film starring LEGALLY BLONDE's Reese Witherspoon, or another sensationalist "rendition" of what American movies make of torture.
But the script is particularly intricate and intelligent, with a wonderful twist. Sorry it didn't catch fire for the amazon reviewer, but the restraint with which this film treats the subject is responsible and works well.
Especially since--despite the director's political position--the script does harken back to the early years of LAW AND ORDER, when the strongest arguments of all sides of an issue were voiced.
Mind Control May 2, 2008
R. Chun (SF, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
You're suddenly a terror suspect because of an errant cell phone call made to you? Sounds farfetched, yet that's the premise of this movie. Anything can be used to tie someone to extremist. What's next, spam? junk mail? facebook? It almost wants to make you want to disconnect from everyone.
At one point in the movie, you think they got the right guy as Anwar "confesses" (after days of torture) to his connections with the extremist. For a moment this scene, seems to justify the means of "gathering intelligence"; afterall, Anwar "confessed" to his connections....but the reality is, he doesn't have any connections with the extremist!
I can see how easy it is for my moral compass to be adjusted in only 1.5 hours because of his "confession". Can you imagine what would happen to us after days of psychological torture? We'll all probably say and do whatever our tormentor wants us to....
Also enjoyed how the various sub-stories are intertwined, well crafted; so many characters trying to do the right thing, yet their actions push them far more into the world they all detest.
In my opinion, mind control is the ultimate objective of terrorist, afterall our minds and what we think about most, likely will dictate our course of action....
Disk also includes interviews with "real" rendition victims.
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