Boring, uninteresting, flat

Rating: 4/10 (26 January 2007)

Besides Forrest Whitakers performance there is little else to recommend this very average film. The script lacked a focus and was devoid of any real tension and so the scenes felt flat and uninteresting. Also there is nothing new here that I haven't seen a million times before. The cinematography and camera direction was dull and distracting (camera following Whitakers hand as he talks, despite the fact he Whitakers face is drawing you in with a great performance, the flow gets broken because the camera now decides to follow his hand in close up? wtf?). The music was another thing that didn't fit with the tone. I thought the music in the final scene was going to break into the James Bond theme at one point.
I never really felt anything watching it. To be perfectly honest I was bored most of the time. The main character Garrigan was so unlikeable, with so many of his decisions making him even less likable, that it was hard to route or care for him. Instead Whitaker, playing a man who in real life was an utter monster, came across far more likable and charming in a very weird way. Perhaps this is because we were denied the chance to see and truly feel the atrocities that he was responsible for (save only a few black and white photos) But while one could argue that this was the point of view that Garrigan would have had of Amin, it doesn't help the situation when Garrigan comes across as such a stupid and unlikeable hero.