James Crowley’s “Closed Circuit” takes an icy cold and
cynical look at the British government, a government that, in the movie, acts
as a powerful, oppressive force capable of carrying out (or covering up)
anything they want despite the efforts of even the most determined and honest
lawyers (or the British equivalent of a lawyer). There is no defeating them. Or
escaping them, for that matter, not with the many closed circuit security cameras
perched all around London. As the tagline states: “They see your every move.”
Even though Crowley’s film takes place in London and therefore deals with
things pertaining to British law, its subject matter (government monitoring of
citizen activity) should prove relevant and timely to American audiences, in light
of the recent scandals involving the NSA monitoring of emails and phone calls.
Although the situation in London appears to be much more extreme, the NSA isn’t
monitoring our actions with street surveillance cameras…at least not yet.
However, aside from that real life connection, “Closed
Circuit” is a fairly standard conspiracy thriller (structure wise) that’s
somewhat intriguing but ultimately undone by uninteresting characters. It
starts rather abruptly when a bomb goes off in a populated area of London,
followed by a suspect named Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto) being
apprehended. Two lawyers, Martin Vickers (Eric Bana) and Claudia Simmons-Howe
(Rebecca Hall) are assigned to his defense. At first everything seems normal,
weird things happen now and again (Martin somehow catches the exact same taxi
numerous times at different locations around the city) but nothing to get
alarmed about.
But then—as they get deeper into the case— the weird
happenings start to escalate and it becomes clear that there are mysterious,
ominous forces at work, interfering with Martin and Claudia’s work. They soon
become paranoid, looking over their shoulders, constantly getting the sensation
that they’re being watched. And with all of those security cameras seemingly
positioned at every street corner, they
are being watched. An unnerving, impending sense of doom pulses through
every frame in “Closed Circuit.” While watching it you can’t help but be
reminded of the same eerie paranoia felt in other conspiracy movies such as
Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” and Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out.” And like
those pictures, “Closed Circuit” has a similar pessimistic ending.
The movie is well made. Jim Clay’s production design is
handsome and neat, the cinematography by Adriano Goldman is simple but
effective in creating a sense of paranoia, and he photographs the entire movie in
a dark blue/greyish light. Crowley moves the picture along at a steady pace and
Joby Talbot’s score heightens the eeriness and intrigue. Yet, despite all of
this and despite Bana and Hall’s best efforts, “Closed Circuit” fails to create
compelling protagonists and therefore we have a hard time getting invested in
the movie’s twists and turns. The protagonists in “The Conversation” and “Blow
out” (played by Gene Hackman and John Travolta) had an imperfect, everyman
quality that made them fascinating to watch. They had personality, but Martin
and Claudia come off too clean and one note. They’re good honest lawyers,
dedicated to the case…whoop-de-doo. Martin has an estranged son but this matter
is hardly ever brought up and so it comes off as a lame attempt at
characterization. Also, in an attempt to create some backstory and tension
between the two lawyers, we find out early that Martin and Claudia used to be
romantically involved with each other. But Crowley and screenwriter Steven
Knight don’t really do anything with this development after introducing it. It
doesn’t affect anything else in the plot and doesn’t seem to be much of a
problem for Claudia and Martin; they can work on the case just fine. And for
playing ex lovers Bana and Hall have almost zero chemistry together.
To put it simply, they’re forgettable, ultimately making the
entire film rather forgettable and making its other minor flaws more blatant.
All of which is a shame considering the movie’s craftsmanship and its relevance
to current events.
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