Secret In Their Eyes

This review may contain spoilers!

It's a good story with a great cast but the entire film lacks that wow factor. I would give Secret In Their Eyes a 6/10.

This is a pretty well written film, it excels in developing an intriguing investigative thriller. I think what this film did really well was analysing how losing someone personally connected to the law enforcement officers affected them psychologically in addition to having lasting impacts upon their lives.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played Ray, is a really likeable lead; Ejiofor plays charismatic roles really well but I think the scenes that he does really well is when we see how obsessive about the case he has become. Dean Norris, who played Bumpy Willis, gives a very genuine performance in this film; he's a good source of comedy and has some great chemistry with Ejiofor. Alfred Molina, who played Martin Morales, is an actor I have really missed watching onscreen; he plays an interesting take on law enforcement post-9/11. Michael Kelly, who played Reg Siefert, is always great at playing dislikeable characters; Kelly has a really strong onscreen rivalry with Ejiofor that makes his scenes really good.

However the best performance of the film came from Julia Roberts, who played Jess. Roberts isn't an actress I've seen much of recently, I honestly didn't know what to expect from her performance. However she starts out as quite a comedic likeable character that has great chemistry with Ejiofor, Norris and Kelly. However when her onscreen daughter is killed we're shown one of the best scenes of the film with an incredible breakdown from Roberts. From there on out she delivers a really harrowing portrayal of grief, she looks completely lost and is so changed from the character we had previously seen.

Despite my praise for the writing this film was bogged down by the romance subplot between Kidman and Ejiofor, it wasn't a film that really demanded a romance when it came to the tone. Which brings me to another issue, the tone of the film nver spiked; the severe lack of action or suspense made this film a little bland in places. The pacing for the film suffered as a result and you feel like the film could have culled a few unnecessary scenes. The cinematography in this film isn't creative; in fact you're treated to some rather repetitive visuals throughout. The editing certainly didn't help this, cutting was slow and sometimes lingered a little too long. The score for this film was much like the tone, repetitive and bland.

Nicole Kidman, who played Claire, is wasted in this film; from the get go she's pushed into an awkward romance with Ejiofor which means her only good scene of the film is an interrogation between her and Cole. Joe Cole, who played Marzin/Beckwith, is entertaining to me because he plays the worst antagonist of the film twice; the real problem here is that the role is just two dimensional for the incredible plot that is built up around him. Zoe Graham, who played Carolyn Cobb, desperately needed more scenes in this film; I found that if it weren't for Roberts I wouldn't have really cared about her death in this film.