andy’s review published on Letterboxd:
“Some things really are best swept under the rug.”
an extremely sleek and stylish movie, from the clothes, the sets and locations and the actors chosen for the roles. fassbender is to a tee a guy who would be a spy and keep this reserved yet diligent agent who you cannot slip one past. it’s like a sibling movie to the killer, i prefer this to that. cate blanchett is a great no. 2 and the combination of this power couple in this fickle profession tests them both personally and within their relationship.
as we move through the short run time, as an audience we are fed with twists and turns. who is playing who, a sexy game of deceit and lies. now while we are told the big threat is a nuclear device out in the wild, we never come face to face with that threat or see its capabilities and it just feels underutilized or lacking the payoff. we don’t feel the stakes of it. the last 20 or so just an exposition dump that made me feel like what’s the point of going through all the uncertainty up until that point. i guess because it’s a bit overcomplicated with the dual set ups? the entire thing felt a bit half baked, it’s still good though. score is vibes too.
