Steven van der Westhuizen

A good cast is not enough to save this movie from itself. In short, it ties itself in a bunch of knots with a horribly convoluted plot, seemingly random in its real purpose. It tries to be a bit of a comedy - and fails. It tries to be a spy drama - and fails. It tries to be a romance - and fails. It’s a mess and I wouldn’t waste your time or money. The 2 stars are for the special effects.

I found this to be a poorly constructed, and disjointed depiction of what were, no doubt, horrific circumstances in reality. The directors had rich subject matter to work with, but somehow failed to present and stitch together the narrative in a meaningful way. Despite being based on a true story, you’re left without any significant feeling of pathos and emotion which should, you would expect, accompany subject matter of this sort. On Netflix in the “Critically Acclaimed” list. I don’t think it deserves this distinction.

Stick to your day job Sean Penn, and ditch that manual of directorial cliches you used to assemble this movie.