There are no car chases in All the Old Knives, no gun battles and no exploding gadgetry. You won’t find any skydiving stunts, doomsday devices or sneering supervillains. Instead, there are intense conversations, lots of them, in bedrooms, wine bars and offices, with a few phone calls thrown in for variety. But far from feeling slow, the story is propelled by the tensions of classic spycraft and human drama, cutting across timelines and locations to create a sense of momentum even as the action remains in the background. Directed by Janus Metz from a script by Olen Steinhauer (who also wrote the book), All the Old Knives has more in common with the tightly wound spy thrillers of John le Carré than with the kinetic adventures of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and that results in a good fit for the scope and tone of this story.
At the center of a tangle of spies, we find Henry Pelham, played by a suitably grizzled Chris Pine. Henry used to be a Vienna-based CIA agent back in 2012, but now he’s cruising along the Pacific Coast Highway on his way to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a rendezvous with an old flame. The gap between these distinct worlds becomes the territory for an intricate plot that freely toggles between past and present as motivations and clues flicker into view. The plot revolves around circumstances surrounding the hijacking of a Jordanian airliner in Vienna that resulted in tragedy and recriminations. Years later, after fresh intel comes to light about a mole in the Vienna office, Henry is tasked with investigating his old colleagues. Bill Compton (Jonathan Pryce), a former supervisor, has some shifty answers and a defensive attitude, but it’s the prospect of interviewing Celia (Thandiwe Newton) that really works on Henry’s nerves. Back in Vienna, they were lovers, insatiable for each other in the way that could easily have led to blind spots and deception. But the hijacking debacle drove her away from both Henry and the agency, and now he aims to find out exactly why she put so much distance between herself and the life they once shared.
Perhaps it’s Pine’s presence in the lead role that sets up expectations that this will be a flashier, noisier movie. After turns in the Star Trek and Wonder Woman franchises, he’s a bona fide action hero, but this role allows him to flex greater range and subtlety, and the chemistry with Newton is palpable. As they sit down to reminisce in a deserted wine bar overlooking the coast, their conversation is cross-cut with flashes of their earlier, torrid affair. We unpack their story as it jumps back and forth in time, shifts that are telegraphed not only by changing hairstyles but by Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s gorgeous cinematography. The warm jewel-tones of the California coast in the present give way to the cold granite and hardwood of the Vienna locale a decade prior, when so much went wrong with the hijacking. Little is shown of the violence that took place when terrorists seized the plane, although some hand-held shots inside the jet effectively ratchet up the tension.
The real story, though, is whatever went on between Henry and Celia back in the day, and we can see in their faces and body language that traces of their old feelings still remain. Either one of them might be leveraging that angle for advantage, which might account for why neither of them seems alerted to the strangeness of the locale where the only other patron is a rough-looking dude. The script takes its time assembling the pieces of this puzzle, but the pace is assured and tight, with a swift runtime that delivers its revelations as cleanly as a professional kill. Afternoon turns to twilight over the sea as Henry and Celia fill in the gaps in their turbulent history, and it becomes apparent that the checkmate move in this battle of wits has already been played. Now it’s just a matter of letting the consequences unfold. Even old knives, after all, can still cut deep.
Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios
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