Synopsis:

The trailer looks good. The movie is set to be released on 10/19/07.

http://movies.aol.com/movie/rendition/27650/main

While this is a topical tale in the current political climate dealing with national security matters after 9/11, it's also a somewhat difficult film to embrace fully because of the subject matter raises doubts into the practice of "rendition" where suspected terrorists are whisked out of the US and sent to places that engage in torture to ascertain whatever intelligence is possible from the suspects, usually without due process. There are 2 personal storylines showing us the personal costs of such a climate of eternal vigilance against terrorism that allows for "rendition" to be used as a tool in the struggle. Neither of the storylines are entirely gripping, but are sufficient in wringing some drama in the crossroads the families find themselves when a man of Egyptian descent is removed from the US and his pregnant wife goes looking for him, and the man responsible for the torturous interrogation has problems of his own, family-wise.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

I thought about seeing this movie but I never even saw a trailer for it and I hate Reese Witherspoon so I guess I'll just wait till DVD now. It sure didnt do to well this weekend and it looks like it won't even make back the cost it took to get Reese Witherspoon in the movie.

This thing bombed... 4 million, how pathetic. We don't want it Hollywood!

I liked this quite a bit more than I expected to. It probably won't be winning any awards, especially not after the dismal box office performance, but I thought it was a fairly good drama.

I saw this on Friday and really liked it. A message picture that didn't need to force any message at all, it let you decide for yourself. I think New Line has a hard time marketing this, especially with a glut of political movies this season, many of them apparently starring Meryl Streep.

Was this a limited release? I never saw any ads for it, or have even heard of it.

If that was the case, then $4 million wasn't a bad haul.

This thing opened in 2,250 theatres.

I am really surprised that it didn't make more. It looks pretty good - except for Reese screaming at the end of the trailer. Very cheesy.

but Reese's character is so one dimensional. Jake's acting (as well as most of the cast) is reduced to facial expressions, the script (in dialogue form) is weak. Streep and Arkin overract to the point of being hammy. The only one I felt outacted everyone was Sarsgaard. Was not impressed at all with this film.

When I first saw the trailer, I silently questioned, "Isn't everyone a little young to be playing these roles"? You got Streep and Arkin. But Reese, Gyllenhaal, and [to a lesser extent] Sarsgaard all seem too youthful. Feels like a bunch of pretty people playing out of their league. Something about it just didn't seem right. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Just one observation.

After Roeper and his guest host (the local Chicago guy) gave it a thumbs down for being an underwhelming, underachieving movie that has all the political subtlety of a sledge hammer, I knew Ebert was going to love it.

I noticed his entire first paragraph was his personal feelings on politics, the same with the Dixie Chicks doc. Needless to say I didn't read the rest. He's been handing out four stars for about every other movie now it seems....

The subject matter from the commericals just didn't entice me to see it.