The 10th big-screen adaptation of a John le Carre novel is modest by his standards, but Our Kind of Traitor is still fun if you don’t take it too seriously.
After all, just because the Cold War is over doesn’t mean Russian mobsters are done laundering money and trading weapons, or that morally conflicted spies and corrupt bureaucrats are out of the picture. And that’s where this globetrotting thriller fits into the wheelhouse of the venerable British author.
It begins in Morocco, where London college professor Perry (Ewan McGregor) is vacationing with his barrister wife (Naomie Harris). Over drinks one night, Perry meets Dima (Stellan Skarsgard), who claims to be a family man but actually is a Russian mafia kingpin.
Still, after charming the couple with a game of tennis at a mountain retreat, Dima convinces Perry to transport classified information to the British government, which is where a hard-nosed MI6 agent (Damian Lewis) becomes involved. When things don’t go as planned and Dima’s true intentions are revealed, and political wrangling provides a curve ball, Perry and his wife find their lives endangered with few allies to save them.
Our Kind of Traitor stretches credibility in various ways, most notably in the naivete of Perry, an educator whose street smarts apparently don’t match his book smarts. Still, McGregor brings depth to his performance and generates sympathy as essentially an innocent bystander forced to resort to vigilante heroism. He represents the audience’s window into a complex criminal underworld in which everyone’s motives seem a little cloudy.
The film gets a considerable boost from the supporting work of Lewis and especially Skarsgard, whose unhinged portrayal seems to provide a shot of adrenaline every time the pace lags.
The somewhat mechanical screenplay by Hossein Amini (Drive) includes some compelling plot twists amid the narrative hurdles, mostly avoiding cliches as it bounces between exotic locales. It takes a character-driven approach to broader themes of conspiracy, betrayal and revenge.
As directed by Susanna White (Nanny McPhee Returns), it’s a taut and stylish effort that gradually ratchets up the suspense and international intrigue as the stakes are raised and the lines between heroes and villains are blurred.
