There was probably a half-way decent story to be told here, but viewers get tied in knots getting to the conclusion of Spider in the Web. I blame the experienced director Eran Riklis, who just hasn't let the story unfold in a smooth flow and is responsible for the uneven pacing that plague this co-production which is supposedly based on real events (Yeah, sure!).
The movie actually starts and ends pretty well believe it or not. It's everything in between that gets (and vicariously us) jerked around.
Itay Tiran who plays Daniel a Mossard agent ordered to shadow an elderly agent, Arderath, played by Ben Kingsley, who was a close colleague of his deceased father, can't really act. He does a good job of doing heaps of chin-ups and jogging quite frequently, but he can't act, especially when required to go one on one with Sir Ben as often as is expected, during the course of this Le Carre wannabe, spy thriller (John Le Carre is even directly referenced by name early in proceedings.).
I always like seeing Monica Bellucci, but here (for a second lead) her character is almost criminally underused and underwritten. She appears spasmodically as a love interest for Adereth and we know she is more than a bed mate. But then she disappears for much of the film, whilst Sir Ben continues to wax lyrically and way too often, about the good old days of spying during a very l-o-n-g second act, where many scenes just seem to be repeated; E.G. Daniel jogging (And why does he suddenly break down and start crying after one particularly energetic run? Perhaps he wanted to get on with the actual espionage too.)
Things do pick up towards the end, as mentioned earlier. There is a sort of a twist and a quite nicely ironic ending, but by then the damage is really done. The material making up the narrative suffices at best for a 90 minute film, not one pushing out towards 115. Despite the always professional best efforts of Ben Kingsley, Spider in the Web, fails to fully entrap our attention.
The movie actually starts and ends pretty well believe it or not. It's everything in between that gets (and vicariously us) jerked around.
Itay Tiran who plays Daniel a Mossard agent ordered to shadow an elderly agent, Arderath, played by Ben Kingsley, who was a close colleague of his deceased father, can't really act. He does a good job of doing heaps of chin-ups and jogging quite frequently, but he can't act, especially when required to go one on one with Sir Ben as often as is expected, during the course of this Le Carre wannabe, spy thriller (John Le Carre is even directly referenced by name early in proceedings.).
I always like seeing Monica Bellucci, but here (for a second lead) her character is almost criminally underused and underwritten. She appears spasmodically as a love interest for Adereth and we know she is more than a bed mate. But then she disappears for much of the film, whilst Sir Ben continues to wax lyrically and way too often, about the good old days of spying during a very l-o-n-g second act, where many scenes just seem to be repeated; E.G. Daniel jogging (And why does he suddenly break down and start crying after one particularly energetic run? Perhaps he wanted to get on with the actual espionage too.)
Things do pick up towards the end, as mentioned earlier. There is a sort of a twist and a quite nicely ironic ending, but by then the damage is really done. The material making up the narrative suffices at best for a 90 minute film, not one pushing out towards 115. Despite the always professional best efforts of Ben Kingsley, Spider in the Web, fails to fully entrap our attention.