The Debt

Set in 1997, Helen Mirren stars as Rachel Singer - a highly renowned Israeli hero and retired Mossad agent who teamed with Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) and David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds) to sneak into East Berlin in 1966 to find a Nazi war criminal and bring him to Israel to stand trial for his horrific crimes. Rachel's daughter has written a book about the whole, historic affair, but our heroine starts to think back to those monumental days in East Berlin, and gives the audience a chance to see what really happened.

Has the legend grown so large the truth can never be told?

What is the truth?

Will the truth destroy Stephan, David and Rachel?

The Debt is a movie too good for its horrible release date. Labor Day weekend is the time when everyone makes their last run to the beach, or holds the final summer barbecue. It's when stinkers like Shark Night and Apollo 18 get dumped by the respective (or, in this case, unrespectable) studios who are too cowardly to show the movies to critics. Labor Day weekend traditionally has one of the lowest box office takes of the year (might even be lower than the hurricane ravaged weekend we saw last week).

Yet, here is a tense, exciting, complicated-in-a-good-way thriller featuring some of the best actors in the business, including one who is just starting to show she will be making great movies for years to come.

Jessica Chastain, as the young Rachel Singer, is captivating in all of the right ways. Showing us how Rachel is inexperienced, vulnerable, torn in different directions by her two counterparts, and afraid of what could happen to them all, Chastain draws the audience in, so we react in shock when Rachel is in danger, and horror when she makes a massive, major mistake (actually, several). This is one actress who is believable, beautiful, compelling and talented. I hope she never has to play the girlfriend in a stupid comedy or pose in her bikini to become more famous.

Plus, The Debt isn't anywhere close to being exciting without Jesper Christensen as The Nazi (sure, his character has a name, but everyone who sees the movie will just call him The Nazi). He expresses the perfect combination of feeling superior, having the capability of evil deviousness and acting in a cowardly way as you would expect from a Nazi. He gives the character a devilish joy as he taunts his captors and plays mind games with them in an attempt to weasel his way out of facing the music for his past and his crimes. Christensen is chilling and fascinating.

Sadly, the movie loses steam towards the end. I love watching Mirren as Rachel trying to come to grips with the life she has led, and the secret she has harbored for years, but our three person screenwriting team takes the story off the deep end with a turn that is overwrought and not befitting the rest of the movie.

The Debt is rated R for some violence and language.