When I saw the cast list, which includes Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and the brilliant Chiwetel Ejiofor I thought I was in for ninety minutes of sheer quality, you can forgive me for thinking that, when you take into account the number of awards shared by the stars, the budget, and the pedigree of the original movie. Unfortunately, Hollywood strikes again, the curse of the poor remake, it was virtually impossible to mess this up, but mess up they did. The acting was fine, strong production values, a clever story, in theory. However, the execution is so bad, the film lacks any degree of suspense, it lacks any degree of subtlety needed to tell such a story, and the characters are such that I didn't care less what happened to any of them, as I have no connection with anybody. The film should have been gripping, exciting, at least moved you to empathise with the characters, but no, it was utterly bland, such a waste of so much talent. I'm stunned by some of the positive reviews I've read, what are they seeing that I couldn't, all I did was yawn, and I'm easy to please in terms of thrillers.

Duller then dishwater. 5/10

The story takes place switching back and forth between two time periods. In 2002, Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Jessica Cobb (Julia Roberts) are investigators in L.A. Claire Sloane (Nicole Kidman) is the new lawyer in the D.A.'s office. D.A. Martin Morales (Alfred Molina) is obsessed with uncovering a plot in a mosque under investigation. Jessica's murdered daughter Carolyn is found near the mosque. Ray quickly zeroes in on car thief Marzin who turns out to be the confidential informer inside the mosque. Ray finds Morales blocking his effort. Thirty years after the case somehow got buried, Ray returns claiming to have found Marzin by visually checking each inmate and that Marzin has just recently let out of prison. He asks Claire who is now the D.A. to reopen the case.

This is an adaptation of an Argentinian Oscar winner. Most criticism seems to indicate that this is too much the same as the original. While I cannot forget the memorable ending of the original, I think it's a mistake to punish this movie for repeating it. There are also plenty of changes from the original. The addition of the 9/11 paranoia is very compelling and logical. Putting Julia Roberts inside the investigation has the advantage of showcasing her in a strip-down unglamorous performance. This movie has great actors doing good work. I would like more compelling evidence against Marzin during the original investigation. The interrogation results in him blurting out "what she got" but that's not really enough. He needs to lay out the whole case for it to be convincing. Some may prefer more ambivalence in his guilt but I think this movie needs it to be more decisive. There are also convenient moments like Ray catching Marzin in a Dodgers game. The story is not perfect but I really like the actors.

Stodgy and clumsy remake of an Argentine thriller. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a retired counter terrorism expert obsessed with a cold case from 2002 just after the post 9/11 hysteria which involved the brutal murder of the daughter of his colleague Jess (Julia Roberts.)

He returns 13 years later and meets up with the District Attorney of LA, Claire (Nicole Kidman) a woman who he was smitten with many years earlier and both of whom thought they had captured the main suspect but he was released as the authorities felt he was needed to fight domestic terrorism.

Jess on the other hand has been worn down all these years, losing her daughter and knowing the likely suspect is protected. Ray thinks he has found a new lead but is in for a surprise.

A brave performance from Roberts looking aged in contrast with Kidman looking glamorous but in fact rather weird probably due to the Botox but she does shine in one scene when she shows her cleavage to the main suspect and then plays with his mind to elicit a confession out of him.

As a conspiracy thriller it does not work, it fails to find whatever metaphor it wanted to show and plods along wasting the actors with sub par material. Whatever made the Argentinian version work, well it did not travel well.