An average movie

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I wonder if I saw the damned thing in the movie theatre when it was released. Anyway, back then, there was quite some buzz about it because Sydney Pollack was coming up with a new directing effort (it would be eventually his last movie) with some big stars like Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. On top of that, it was mostly taking place in the U.N. building in New York and I think it was the first time something like this was ever allowed so the whole thing was definitely intriguing. Eventually, it started a little bit like a vintage Cold War 70’s thriller but rapidly morphed into a rather far-fetched 90’s conspiracy thriller, except that this movie was actually released in the 2000’s. Anyway, the end-result was fairly entertaining but, to be honest, it was never really interesting and I wish it could have been both. A big mistake they made was also to include the private lives of the two main characters, Silvia Broome and Tobin Keller. Seriously who cares that Keller lost his wife recently? Concerning Silvia, it would have made her character much more intriguing and relatable if she had no personal link whatsoever with this conspiracy. At least, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn were both really charismatic and they did what they could with the material. However, even if Kidman and Penn did deliver some solid performances, it’s too bad Pollack didn’t manage to deliver something more interesting with this neat set-up. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.