Rendition

Rendition, a political potboiler exploring a controversial governmental practice, is guaranteed to get your heart racing. It pushes all the buttons these kinds of suspenseful dramas usually do, but too many unanswered questions make the satisfaction level a little less than it could've been. Nevertheless, a great cast working at the top of their game contribute mightily in making this a fine thriller with intrigue and smarts. The story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of an Egyptian-born terrorism suspect (Omar Metwally) now living in the U.S. with his pregnant wife (Reese Witherspoon) and family. After he goes AWOL on a flight from South Africa, she travels to Washington, D.C., to try and get some answers. Her efforts in getting to a senator's aide (Peter Sarsgaard) lead to awkward confrontation with the senator himself (Alan Arkin) and the CIA executive (Meryl Streep) who holds the key to her husband's whereabouts but won't admit it. Meanwhile, CIA operative Jake Gyllenhaal is busy working with a tough foreign police interrogator in an unnamed country where the systematic torture of Witherspoon's husband is taking place. Using the practice (actually begun in the Clinton administration) known as "extraordinary rendition," the U.S. is free to do whatever they want in order to get confessions from suspected terrorists. Whether the practice is justified here is murky from the beginning and never really fully explained, particularly with a plot device involving cell phone calls. Despite our reservations, Rendition may not be so extraordinary as a movie, but it's a genuine nail-biter that's ultimately a cut above the usual films of this ilk.