STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Morning * Monday Morning
Frustrated at his seeming inability to land a good case, young FBI agent Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) is approached by senior agent Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette) to infiltrate a white supremacist organisation she believes are responsible for some missing chemicals from a compound. He blends in well, and impresses some senior members in the group, including Gerry Conway (Sam Trammell), the charismatic leader, but as his mission wages on, he finds himself embroiled in departmental bureaucracy and deceit as Conway plots his grand plan.
Having never gotten into the whole Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe is one actor I never really followed that closely, but it was still a surprise to find him in this highly charged thriller, which plunges us back into the world of neo Nazi extremism. He doesn't fit the role perfectly, and you can never be sure whether it's because he's too geeky or too young, but that's not to say he gives a bad performance, and is a decent lead.
Debut feature length director Daniel Ragussis has crafted what appears to be a modest budgeted production, but taken time to craft an intelligent, considered screenplay that takes pains to get under the skins of its far right characters and portray them as seriously flawed but vaguely humanistic and intelligent characters, rather than merely as one dimensional stereotypes. It comes off as a little film that seems to have some big ideas to share, eager to burst out of its small bubble.
An intriguing and compelling first half is let down by an ending that descends into melodrama, and is sort of anti climatic, but it's generally dynamic and worthwhile. It disappeared from cinemas pretty quickly, which is all too much of a shame in this current climate, but it's well worth seeking out. ***
Frustrated at his seeming inability to land a good case, young FBI agent Nate Foster (Daniel Radcliffe) is approached by senior agent Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette) to infiltrate a white supremacist organisation she believes are responsible for some missing chemicals from a compound. He blends in well, and impresses some senior members in the group, including Gerry Conway (Sam Trammell), the charismatic leader, but as his mission wages on, he finds himself embroiled in departmental bureaucracy and deceit as Conway plots his grand plan.
Having never gotten into the whole Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe is one actor I never really followed that closely, but it was still a surprise to find him in this highly charged thriller, which plunges us back into the world of neo Nazi extremism. He doesn't fit the role perfectly, and you can never be sure whether it's because he's too geeky or too young, but that's not to say he gives a bad performance, and is a decent lead.
Debut feature length director Daniel Ragussis has crafted what appears to be a modest budgeted production, but taken time to craft an intelligent, considered screenplay that takes pains to get under the skins of its far right characters and portray them as seriously flawed but vaguely humanistic and intelligent characters, rather than merely as one dimensional stereotypes. It comes off as a little film that seems to have some big ideas to share, eager to burst out of its small bubble.
An intriguing and compelling first half is let down by an ending that descends into melodrama, and is sort of anti climatic, but it's generally dynamic and worthwhile. It disappeared from cinemas pretty quickly, which is all too much of a shame in this current climate, but it's well worth seeking out. ***