Old knives sharp enough for satisfying spy thriller
Danish director Janus Metz brings a chilly Scandinavian sensibility to his adaptation of Olen Steinhauer’s 2015 spy novel All the Old Knives. The serviceable picture keeps the viewer at some remove from the characters, but presents a story just entertaining enough to absorb us.
Chris Pine, channeling his Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit performance, is well cast as CIA agent Henry Pelham. Thandiwe Newton plays his former colleague and lover Celia, and the two have credible chemistry, even if their dialogue occasionally feels a bit stilted and too expository. The film is told in two time frames: the present day, and eight years prior, when Celia and Henry were part of a team that failed to stop a hijacking attack on a commercial flight. In the present day, Henry is tasked by his boss Vick (Laurence Fishburne) to root out the CIA insider who tipped off the terrorists, thereby allowing the attack, which killed 120 passengers, including children. Don’t worry about being confused about distinguishing the flashbacks from the present, though, as there’s an easy tell: if Chris Pine has tousled, flowing bed head locks, it’s the past, and his slicked-back, Gavin Newsom-esque ‘do equals the present.
The picture has enough intrigue, red herrings, possible suspects, and suspenseful moments to keep us guessing, even if, upon final reflection, some motivations and actions don’t end up making a lot of sense. Pine and Newton are well matched and believable as both highly intelligent CIA agents and as a couple giddy in love. Jonathan Pryce gets a lot of mileage out of a supporting role that requires him to be a bundle of paranoid nerves. Only Laurence Fishburne is wasted as the CIA big boss, lending Morpheus-like gravitas to an otherwise one note bureaucrat role.
And of course the movie’s biggest plus may be its Carmel-by-the-Sea scenery, which is sure to please the Monterey County tourism board. I don’t know if the restaurant where Celia and Henry meet to rehash the past is a real Carmel restaurant, but, to quote Liz Lemon, I want to go to there. In the meantime, though, we can experience it vicariously through this decently acted and engrossing tale of espionage, subterfuge, and romance.
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All the Old Knives opens today at Bay Area theaters, and also streams on Amazon Prime.
