Rendition

Pros: Riveting, explosive thriller about conspiracies and torture
Cons: That this is something really happening in the world today

To tell you the truth when I first started watching this movie I was not aware of exactly what the term Rendition actually meant. I knew it had some sort of covert meaning but not the extent of it or the ways of means of how it was carried out. ...

Pros: Excellent Cast, fascinating, if not frightening dvd documentary that is well worth watching.
Cons: DVD really could have used the deleted scenes to flesh out the Gyllenhall-Freeman character.

It was a no-brainer that I would rent Rendition when it came out. Anything with Reese Witherspoon is on my radar, since I first saw her lighting up the screen in Man in the Moon as a young girl. Add in Jake Gyllenhaal who is ...

Pros: superb ensemble, Dion Beebe's cinematography, DVD extras
Cons: eventually some conventional thriller material, gratuitously confusing flashbacks

I didn't plan for my Memorial Day movie-watching to focus on torture and terror, but it has: first the black and tan and the IRA in Ireland, ca. 1920 in "T he Wind that Shakes the Barley" (2006), then a suicide bombing ...

Pros: Great acting, well written and directed concerning a crucial issue of our times
Cons: None

How many times have we heard our fearless leaders make the claim that "The United States does not torture people." Can't count the number of times? Well, we hear that statement once more in "Rendition" as spoken by a C.I.A. official in charge of ...

Pros: strong cast, topical story, was an interesting presentation
Cons: frustrating lack of emotion, needed to be longer

What if someone you love...just disappeared? This is the question posed to Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi when her husband Anwar El-Ibrahimi doesn't return home from his trip to Cape Town, South Africa. The twist to this story though, is that he ...

Pros: great performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, great directing and storytelling
Cons: drags out a bit

Rendition might seem to fit into the countless number of movies criticizing post 9/11 America, such as Redacted, A Might Heart, In the Valley of Elah and Civic Duty, but it manages to elevate itself even above the newly minted genre. It took me a while ...

Pros: Suspenseful. Has potential to spark debate between viewers about an important issue.
Cons: Another anti-American film.

Starring Reese Witherspoon as Isabella El-Ibrahim, Omar Metwally as Anwar El-Ibrahim, Jake Gyllenhaal as Douglas Freeman, Meryl Streep as Corrine Whitman, Alan Arkin as Senator Hawkins, Moa Khouas as Khalid El-Emin, Zineb Oukach as Fatima Fawal, Igal ...

Pros: Few.
Cons: A shameless, pandering picture that insults the intelligence of Democrats and Republicans alike.

"Rendition" is comfort food for liberals, stacking the odds against the use of torture so significantly that, in its own arrogance, it probably makes a case for it. These kind of simpleminded rants are perfect fodder for a world of clever, contrary ...