As summer winds down, studios are starting to roll out the more “thinking persons” type of fare; story driven, with less explosions, car chases and badly delivered one-liners. In the case of the new film, Closed Circuit, Hollywood is trying to deliver one last gasp: a thriller set up with real world ramifications about terrorists and the use of information by the state. And unfortunately the film fails on almost every count.
Closed Circuit is the story of Martin Rose (Eric Bana), a British defense attorney who is tasked with defending a Muslim suspect in a heinous bombing of a public market. Because of the very delicate nature of the case, Rose’s ex-lover, Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall) is assigned to the defense team in an advisory role to oversee what is called “secret evidence” in a closed doors trial that will actually run concurrently to the public trial that Bana’s Rose will handle. The point of this is for the state to maintain secrecy while presenting evidence that could jeopardize current investigations and/or missions through the MI5 intelligence department.
While this is an interesting premise to what could have been a decent film, Closed Circuit is instead billed as a Big Brother/Government is Bad thriller, by using the tagline “They See Your Every Move,” as well as calling the film, well, Closed Circuit (which implies the use of cameras). Unfortunately, none of this comes into play during the course of the film, which makes it simply astounding that the entire production is grossly misrepresented to the film-going public.
As Rose and Simmons-Howe, who are not supposed to even have contact with one another per British judicial code, begin to investigate the bombing, they begin to see a much larger picture possibly involving MI5 and high ranking government officials, and people start to die to aid in the cover-up. The problem here is there is no reason for this at all. The McGuffin isn’t strong enough to warrant the kind of reaction levied on it by the players in this particular feature. And the purported “they are watching you” isn’t as much done by any of the millions of cameras throughout London, but by actual human agents–which director John Crowley (Intermission, Boy A) makes a point to show us time and again–which again calls into question the actual title of the film and the misused tagline.
The script by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things), also fails to do anything more than go through a motion or two. It’s as if Knight had a full chessboard to play with, but only used two pawns and maybe a rook to tell his story.
The hallmark of any good story is to actually take your lead/protagonist and put them through an ordeal so they will be different/changed at the end. Closed Circuit fails this too. At the end of the film’s 96 minute run time, nothing much has changed. In fact, the first question that came to mind was “Why?” To call Closed Circuit pointless would be a perfect summation of the film, and it’s sad, really, as there are some interesting premises that the filmmakers and cast are trying to get across.
This entire argument can be highlighted in the casting and “performance” (using the term terribly loosely) of Julia Styles (The Bourne films) as an American journalist working the London bureau. Styles is in only two scenes, and serves only to tell Martin Rose that there might be a conspiracy. And then–spoiler alert, but really, who cares at this point–she dies. Off screen. Her death making the headline of her own newspaper that Martin happens to see on the newsstand days later. Pointless.
Closed Circuit is a failure of a film on almost every level. The script, the directing, and even the performances are all lacking in every way. And this is a cast that also includes Jim Broadbent as the Attorney General, and Ciaran Hinds as Martin Rose’s longtime friend and mentor. Both storied, talented actors are wasted.
It is completely wrong and unjust in how Closed Circuit is presented to the audience and even if you could get past all of that, it’s just not a good enough film to suggest to anybody.
Closed Circuit is rated R and arrived in theaters on August 28, 2013.
