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Rendition [2007]
from Entertainment in Video
starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, J.K. Simmons, Alan Arkin, Reese Witherspoon
directed by Gavin Hood

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

A politically-charged, compelling drama, Rendition sees director Gavin Hood follow up the extraordinary, Oscar-winning Tsotsi with another challenging, quality piece of cinema. This time, his attention focuses on the story of a man who is kidnapped, and shipped off to be imprisoned abroad. The reason? Suspected terrorism. And his wife has no idea where he is and what's happened.

In lesser hands, Rendition could have really struggled to make its mark, but Hood very much knows what he's doing, and his film is excellent, right up to--and including--its final reel. His cast help him immensely, with Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep offering terrific support to the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Rendition does have some problems. Its pace sometimes wavers a little, some of the roles are slighter than you'd like, and sometimes the American-based elements pull the film back. But these are minor gripes that seem unfair to level at an ambitious drama, that is fearless about addressing issues of morality. Tightly woven on the whole, and sticking in your head long after the end credits have rolled, Rendition is intelligent film-making, that pulls very few punches. Those after an action feast are clearly advised to head in the other direction; those looking for a film to engage the brain are very much welcome, and set to be richly rewarded. --Jon Foster

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

• Improvement on the 2006 Editions
  Gavin Hood's film follows on a spate of releases that cast different perspectives on the War on Terrorism. In the Left corner we have Michael Winterbottom's "The Road to Guantanamo," which pulls no punches in its attack on American policies of internment but follows a dubious bunch of people indeed to make its points. In the Right corner we have "Flight 93" and "World Trade Center," which recreate the events of 11th September 2001 (weapon and target, respectively). These two films dramatise the attacks in... more info

• Excellent film - must be watched - moving & disturbing
  This was an absolutely brilliant film and my family and I all loved it.
  Was a bit hard-going to begin with - with some sub-titles, but then things soon settled down, it's not a film for back-ground noise or you'll miss the plot and get bored.
  great cast - well acted.
  the story-line is disturbing and actually quite scarey considering i work in a government background and never had any idea this sort of thing was happening and actually instigated by government.
  I've seen many of the films... more info

• Thought provoking
  Rendition refers to 'extraordinary rendition' -- a term recently adopted whereby suspected terrorists in the US can be sent, without the legal consent of their parents nations, to prisons abroad to be questioned and detained. Its become a buzz word lately because (as Meryl Streep points out) "we have no torture in the US".
  Anwar Al-Ibrahim is a highly-paid professional who has lived in the US for 20 yrs, is married to an American, holds a green-card but was born in Egypt. When a bomb goes off in an... more info

• Disappointing
  I was excited to see this film as the trailer looked action-packed with a few plot twists and turns but I ws quite disappointed. The few plot twists that there were weren't that significant and didn't add to the tension etc.
  Overall a disappointing film.

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