Watched it last night. I found it a little frustrating that Berg has assembled such a great cast and then just gives us short asides and brief moments with them. I would love to have seen more repartee between Jason Batemen and Chris Cooper, but everything we see is gold - it seems like there are interesting and fully developed characters there that we just get intimations of. Likewise Piven gets a few good moments, but we dont enough of him to tell whether his phoning in that 'smarmy fucker' persona of his or there's something more at work.
Although the film is based on true events, I'm not sure that the last part of the team's stay in Saudi Arabia is accurate, but it gives the investigation story leading up to it weight and immediacy, and it works as a whole.
I'm also not a huge fan of the hand-held / mobile camera style employed, but then
John-Locke wrote: the final 25 minutes or so of action make you totally forget about that as we are treated to some of the best action I have seen in a film all year, it's tense, bloody, violent, rapid, clever, easy to follow and most importantly BADASS.
for this part of the film it makes sense - it's dynamic and exhilarating and works so well. There are a few moments, where missile launchers and grenades join in the chance and gunfight towards the end that are really stunning and exciting.
Garner and Fox do solid work here, and only in a few scenes does Foxx turn on the charisma, clouding the rest of the drama (either that or he just demands certain close-ups). Garner in particular does very subtle work, and in the final scenes involving Abu Hamza, when it's most important, she turns in a performance that is effective without relying too much on evoking clichéd sympathies.
Ashraf Barhom is the stand out - his character, Colonel Faris Al Ghazi's impossible position as liason for the Amercan FBI team on one side, with allegiances to his people and country on the other, is portrayed perfectly. His scene with Foxx, talking about the Hulk is a really nice touch.
I'd give this a six or seven. like Locke says, thoroughly entertaining movie, with some issues on it's mind that it manages to explore a little without trivialising.