Reviewer's grade: B
Terror is a tricky business. When a suicide bomber does his thing in a crowded Moroccan plaza, a top CIA officer is among those killed. This forces young agent Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) to step into the role as torture overseer.
Because of the terror attack, the United States goes wild, and snags an Egyptian-born, great dad and husband Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) from the airport, exporting him to Morocco for some "interrogation" about the bombing. His wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon), understandably, goes berserk, and knows he should have been on a plane home. She fights the good fight at home, enlisting help from an ex (Peter Sarsgaard) who works for a senator. They try to get answers out of CIA head Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep), as agent Freeman grows increasingly convinced El-Ibrahimi knows nothing of the attack.
Not much is left to the imagination, which is a pity, but "Rendition" is an effective political thriller that illustrates some creepy concerns with our response to terror. R
"?Joe Wertz
