A disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2013)

I'm not going to add any vitriol to the debate about this movie's qualities. It's a story which should stand on its own two feet as a gripping account of an actual event. So why cheapen it with bits of fiction and poor scripting? Why leave gratitude for the Canadian role almost as an afterthought towards the end? Why not show the stress which the Canadian Ambassador must have endured, just as the stress of his guests was depicted? He, his family and staff were in just as much danger. Why dismiss the sensible actions of the British and New Zealand Embassies in one line: "The Brits and Kiwis turned them away", without explaining that the sudden arrival of a bunch of North American accents would stick out like a sore thumb to visitors and local staff alike in those diplomatic posts? Why the fictitious car-plane chase on the runway? The story had all the drama it needed from start to finish, without any help. The only partly obscured American flag in one of the closing scenes is the clue to the shortcomings which downgrade this effort to average entertainment when it could so easily have been much more worthy.