The Debt (2010) - The Nazi war criminal thriller is back in a welcome return

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The slick but not very informative poster for John Madden's The Debt

QUICK REVIEW:

In 1965 the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad sent three agents to East-Berlin to assassinate an infamous Nazi war criminal, the Surgeon of Nuremberg, who was then a practicing gynecologist.

The Debt lifts the rich inheritance from Nazi war criminal thrillers like The Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978) without the elements of diamonds, clones or wild car chases from those films, but instead with a sober and intense story, SPOILER which ends as an uncompromising defense for truth in all contexts.
The film could have benefited from an opening text about East-Berlin and that Mossad had just localized the Surgeon there, and there are also some difficulties in seeing all the well-known actors as Jews, - but, more importantly, they all do well. Particularly Helen Mirren (The Last Station (2009)), who simply becomes her character here, but also Jessica Chastain (The Martian (2015)) and Jesper Christensen (Spectre (2015)), who is icy as the Nazi war criminal, mixing psychopathic diabolism with rationality and sympathetic qualities.
The Debt is a remake of the Israeli The Debt/Ha-Hov (2007), written by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass (2010)), Jane Goldman (Stardust (2007)) and Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)), and directed by great English filmmaker John Madden (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)). It is an attractive, good film.

Related review:

John Madden: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - Elderly Brits me in India in Madden's delightful film

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 45.6 mil. $
= Flop
[The film premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival in France September 4 and runs 113 minutes. The Debt was finished and ready for release in July 2010, but due to the sale of distributor Miramax, the North American release was delayed until August 31 2011. The film opened #2 to 9.9 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 31.1 mil. $ (68.2 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.6 mil. $ (10.1 %) and the UK with 2.3 mil. $ (5 %). The Debt is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Debt?

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - Elderly Brits meet India in Madden's delightful best film to date

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith (lost to Agnieszka Grochowska for In Darkness)

The ensemble-stressing poster for John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

QUICK REVIEW:

A group of Third Aged Brits travel to India, where they are to live in a cheap home for the elderly, which turns out to be more unfinished than they had imagined.

Best Exotic is a surprisingly good film; an adaptation of Deborah Moggach's (Driving in the Dark (1988)) These Foolish Things (2004) by Ol Parker (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)), it has well-written characters and enough stories for several films, but it somehow manages to balance them all in first-rate fashion. English director John Madden's (The Debt (2010)) film also has funny, spot-on India/England observations and an ensemble cast of exceedingly lovable actors:
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire (2008)) is charming and funny as the Indian host-proprietor; Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom (2001)), Judi Dench (Philomena (2013)), Bill Nighy (Notes on a Scandal (2006)) and Penelope Wilton (Match Point (2005)) each play their parts very real and are just super. - And Maggie Smith (Quartet (2012)) is simply divine as the curmudgeon, who SPOILER makes the greatest change of them all.
The film is a little thick at one junction and sort of stretches its dough a little to SPOILER afford us its happy ending. - But what of it, since we really want it.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is one of the most wonderfully appealing movies of the year.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Two of the first ladies of British cinema, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Londoner Dev Patel is great in John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Watch the wonderful trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 136.8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Best Exotic, which was filmed partly on location in India, was first shown at the Sorrento cinema trade show in 2011 and was publicly released in early 2012. The film was a smash especially in countries related to Britain; in the UK it made a whopping 31 mil. $ (the 4th highest grossing picture of 2012 there); it was 2012's third highest grossing film in New Zealand (4.4 mil. $) and Australia (21.2 mil. $). It made 46.4 mil. $ (34 % of the total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?
Is Madden's 2015 sequel also good?