Beirut Reviews

Summary A U.S. diplomat (Jon Hamm) flees Lebanon in 1972 after a tragic incident at his home. Ten years later, he is called back to war-torn Beirut by CIA operatives (Rosamund Pike) to negotiate for the life of a friend he left behind.

• Action

• Adventure

• Crime

• Drama

• Mystery

• Thriller

Even decades after it was written Beirut is as relevant as it is entertaining, and it is very entertaining indeed.

Increasingly tense and benefiting from a well-thought-out script by Tony Gilroy, it finds a slim opening for heroics in a place where all parties are tainted.

Just a solid ass movie. Jon Hamm doing that thing again where he makes a great movie and it's too good for everyone to go see.

A really good movie, 8.5 actually, one of the best I've seen this year, with an actual plot that requires more than one brain cell to follow. Refreshing. And Jon Hamm does a great job. This is a grossly underrated thriller.

Damn, is it good to watch a movie that expects the audience to pay attention and that doesn’t pander to the least common denominator.

This is a good movie for Hamm, and also for Pike who, in her recent films, has too often been either a madwoman or a victim of circumstance (and sometimes both). Here she gets to be active and think on her feet, and it makes a big difference.

Though entertaining in stretches, the central metaphor of back-channel dealmaking as a game of Texas Hold ’em — played by Skiles and different factions within the CIA, the PLO, and the Israeli government — comes up short in the end.

If you focus on the acting alone, it’s fun to watch these two circle each other–but the movie around them doesn’t bring us any closer to the heart of this aggrieved city.

Beirut has zero character as a setting, reduced to a generic backdrop of rubble and sand. It’s not a real place with a distinct culture in a time and political situation which any writer worth their salt could cull mountains of rich material from – it’s Scarymuslimabad, capital of Clicheistan.

Very decent suspense thriller, good story and good acting. Well worth seeing.

a brief depiction of the actual side of the coin.. Beirut The premise is familiar to the audience and walks on the usual structure that may be off putting, but since it is to-the-point, fast paced, gut-wrenching tale of an underrated bravery of a middle-aged man looking for a closure, it works just fine. It is short on technical aspects like sound department and the camera work, although it is finely edited. The screenplay by Tony Gilroy is gripping and adaptive, if not smarter as it should be, its "safe play" does pay off if considered the bigger picture. Brad Anderson; the director, has done a decent work on depicting such a dark, raw and brutal world where his character revolves around and is utterly palpable to its tone even though it is extracted from one's typical textbook formula. Jon Hamm delivers on performance level as much as he could but unfortunately the protagonist is undercooked and the supporting cast like Rosamund Pike and Shea Whigham doesn't get much range and room to factor in. The primary reason it works despite of such flaws is that it takes lesser time to make its point and keeps the audience engaged in this character driven feature which is quite difficult to do so. Beirut is a brief description of the actual side of the coin, no matter how inedible and dark it might get for the audience, it certainly is electrifying at its peak.

Considered an espionage thriller without a lot of showcasing of the actual espionage this films spans a decade between events surrounding diplomat Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) which first causes him to leave Beirut and events that force him to return a decade later during the Lebanese Civil War between 1972-1982. Directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist & Session 9) in his biggest budget film to date. Written by Tony Gilroy who has had a hand in many films (Rogue One, Nightcrawler, Duplicity etc) is always able to add a good deal of human element to characters. Cast wise this film stars the incomparable Jon Hamm and very talented actress Rosamund Pike who traverse their way through the war torn streets of Beirut to track down his friend and CIA officer Cal Riley who’s been kidnapped and knows a lot of valuable info about day to day operations. Without giving away any story Mason Skiles runs into a lot of familiar faces on his way to trying to find his friend and gets a crash course on all that’s happened since he left ten years prior. ‍‍‍‍‍‍I enjoy‍‍‍ these types of films because they really do put another lens on how dangerous the rest of the world can truly be and how circumstance changes a lot of lives in an instant. With great acting, just enough action and just enough education these are films that definitely widen a perspective on our relations with other countries.

I really wanted to like this movie for the sake of Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pyke, but I just couldn't do it. The most exciting scene is the first 10 minutes, and it is all downhill from there. The plot is garbled and boring, and it has nothing more to offer than the average movie about low-key espionage in the middle east--an outsider swoops in with limited experience, has a few drinks, and manages to solve unsolvable problems in a way that isn't at all believable. The script felt like a disappointing waste of the lead actors' talents. The best thing about the movie, to me, was the absolutely beautiful and desolate shots of the city and people's lives there. The more interesting stories seemed to be at the edges--what were the people who stayed there doing?--rather than the center of the film's focus.

Most notable thing in Beirut is Dean Norris: as a huge fan of Breaking Bad,I knew this solid american actor as "Hank", one of the most important characters of the show. Seeing him performing in Beirut with a wig was quite a shock, but an hilarious one, haha! I will only remember the movie for this bit.