'A Most Wanted Man' - Review

From the John Le Carré novel of the same name, A Most Wanted Man is the final film featuring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in a lead role. German spymaster Günther Bachmann (Hoffman) is in a desperate race against rival intelligence groups to frame a possible terrorist threat. When a complication in the form of Jihadist Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Bobrygin) arrives in Hamburg with unknown intentions, Bachmann comes up against shady businessmen, a determined lawyer (Rachel McAdams) and even those within his own machinations.

The central performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman is staggering, a rare case of an actor totally owning the screen. Critics and audiences speak constantly of an actor appearing to be ‘world-weary’, but few ever live up to that. Not so with Hoffman. With a cigarette forever dangling from his lips and a hipflask near to hand, his bedraggled and unshaven form is a weighty presence that cannot fail to draw the eye. As upsetting as it may be to admit, Hoffman’s internal, off-screen problems appear only to enhance his performance.

Though they may pale slightly in comparison to the leading powerhouse, the supporting cast are still watchable. Willem Dafoe takes a break from villainous caricatures and is all the better for it as a put-upon businessman and Grigoriy Bobrygin is utterly believable as the wayward Islamist lost not only in a foreign land but also internally. It’s good to see Rachel McAdams back in a major supporting role, although it is a shame to see the talented Daniel Brühl relegated to little more than a background appearance. All cast members who are required to don a German accent manage to keep it mostly in check, though I can’t speak for the accuracy of those which are Hamburg-specific.

The plot unfolds slowly and deliberately, appearing at first to be heading in one direction but then taking a wild yet usually subtly executed turn. Unlike the previous Le Carré adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, where everything is in the smallest of details (a raised eyebrow, a nervous glance), this film wears its schemes and double-crosses with sour grimaces or frustrated swearing. The technological element also feels very contemporary, hidden cameras and surveillance vans taking the place of bugged lamps or hidden envelopes.

The functional cinematography is pitched just right; the steel and concrete architecture and the iron-grey skies of Hamburg a perfect match for the unfeeling, morally grey area that Bachmann and his associates inhabit. This is not a film about heroes and villains, but about those in-between, struggling to decide between the lesser of many evils and attempting compromise despite less than favourable results, results which more often than not are frustrating and ultimately unfair.

A Most Wanted Man is a contemporary war-on-terror thriller that, despite its pulpy origins, is a story entirely owned not by the director or the writer, but Philip Seymour Hoffman. As a swansong to a remarkable film career – and indeed a troubled life – I cannot imagine anything better suited: it’s dark, bitter, brooding and powerful.

4.5 stars