Chris Pine has been busy of late, last week his The Contractor arrived and this week, Pine has gone more classic Hollywood thriller with the arrival of All the Old Knives. Joining him in the endeavor is Westworld star Thandiwe Newton, who portrays Celia Harrison—a former romantic entanglement and fellow CIA operative.
Their reunion is spurred by the reveal of the news that their higher-ups at the CIA have discovered that one of its agents has released information that has cost the agency one hundred fine folks. Even though he is not tip-top physically, Pine’s Henry Pelham has been tapped to root out the mole. Eventually, it gets narrowed down to anyone who worked with Pelham and Harrison in the Vienna, Austria headquarters.
There’s a richness to All the Old Knives that one can immediately tell that the film is based on a book. Better still, the man who penned the thrilling novel—Olen Steinhauer—also wrote the screenplay. When the author is also your screenwriter, no one is going to know these characters better than them. It shows on every frame. There is a swagger to each and every character that behind it lies some firm confidence and awareness that the life path has given them a great life, but it is also a worthy one full of personal sacrifice for the greater good.
<iframe width="693" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6s7NziAetNs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>The investigation will take Pine, Newton, and the viewer living vicariously through the leads, from Vienna to England and then to the Golden Coast that is California. As such it is a priceless opportunity for cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen to use the varied topography as a means of highlighting where in the narrative we are, literally.
This is firmly the Pine and Newton show. But there are two others who are supporting players that keenly know their place as such and deliver knockout performances as only they can. Laurence Fishburne is Vick Wallinger, Pine, and Newton’s boss at the agency and the one who is leading this operation from Langley.
The other thespian veteran that dives in headfirst to his role is Jonathan Pryce, who portrays Bill Compton. His part in all of this, well… you’re going to have to witness All the Old Knives because to describe what Compton does and who he does it for would be an enormous spoiler.
Danish director Janus Metz grabs this challenge by the lapels and relishes the old Hollywood feel to it. All the Old Knives is not necessarily noir filmmaking, more noir adjacent. The Movie Mensch first discovered Metz in 2017 when he helmed the deserved much more attention than it got Borg vs. McEnroe.
It was immediately apparent that this is a filmmaker who keenly knows his gift and more importantly, how to most effectively utilize that gift to further the storytelling process. There are a lot of balls in the air for this film, but the effortless way that its tone permeates your emotive landscape shows just how tuned in this helmer is to the human condition.
In fact, this could have been a film that was about loyalty and national ideology. It is instead a study into the moral compass that agents possess who work for agencies such as the CIA and the role that betrayal plays in the success or failure of any particular mission.
Pine is terrific. His turn recalls his short-lived stretch as Jack Ryan when he made Shadow Recruit. This is an actor with amazing senses for the thriller genre. Although it was above average, his Jack Ryan movie did not work overall, but that cannot be said here. The Star Trek veteran has found a character in Pelham that fits him like a glove and here is hoping that enough people see it that we get a second film that can further show off the skill set of a certain Chris Pine.
Grade: B