there's a strange fillip of senior-action payoff in a Ukrainian hospital at the end, but by then you may be too worn out to harvest its moral significance - let alone admire the twist ending
the remake ups the adrenaline factor, and features strong perfs across the board, yet feels bogged down by a weighty love triangle and a subject that merits more than the old-school good vs. evil approach
set up at the beginning by an extraordinarily chilling scene that is replayed in Rashomon-like ways throughout the film but that never loses its withering power over Rachel, Stephan, David or, as importantly, us
relentlessly paced and artfully lensed and constructed, it's a first-rate thriller that explores loyalty, duty to country and self, and the price of deception with skill and razor-sharp precision
predictably, the holes in the narrative set us up for a twist or three, but, in balance, it's a pleasure to be back in the wet alleys and spy-patrolled streets of the GDR, however vague they seem without '60s black-and-white cinematography
by Linda Barnard [Toronto Star ]
by Claudia Puig [USA Today ]
