All The Old Knives movie review

MOVIE TITLE: All The Old Knives

This spy thriller premieres on Amazon Prime on April 8, 2022

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 41 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

When the CIA discovers one of its agents leaked information that cost more than 100 people their lives, veteran operative Henry Pelham (Chris Pine) is assigned to root out the mole from among his former officemates at the agency’s Vienna station. His investigation takes him from Austria to England to California, where he is reunited with his one-time colleague and ex-lover Celia Harrison (Thandiwe Newton). The pair are forced to blur the lines between profession and passion in this riveting tale of global espionage, moral ambiguity, and deadly betrayal.

Based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer—who also adapted the screenplay—All the Old Knives is a quiet spy thriller directed by Danish filmmaker Janus Metz Pedersen.

THINGS I LIKED:

The cast is really great and what drew me in. I’m a sucker for handsome Chris Pine and I loved hearing him speak so many languages.
The lovely Thandiwe Newton is always mesmerizing to watch.
It’s great to see Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce. They always provide an elegant layer of maturity to movies.
This is an espionage movie with multiple, unpredictable plot twists. It’s nice to sit back and not know exactly where a film is going.
Great close-up shots.
You get to visit charming Austria, London, and beautiful Carmel, California, as the film was shot on location.
The title is clever and lets you know there are going to be some espionage tropes, long conversations, and compromised loyalties.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

This whodunnit mystery focuses on relationships, not action thrills. Be forewarned to manage your expectations.
So many flashbacks might confuse some viewers about the timeline. Pay attention to the hairstyles, mostly, to help you keep up with the flip-flopping in time.
Very heavy-handed musical score.
Lots and lots of exposition.
Some important moments are quickly passed over, while less important moments (like the sex scenes) are unnecessarily long.
It’s probably not a movie you’d watch again once you know who the mole is.
It’s slow-moving and the grey color palette makes it feel even more dull and lifeless.
I wanted more backstory on all of the characters.
You’re left with a feeling of sadness and frustration.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

This is not appropriate for kids due to profanity, sex scenes, and nudity. In addition to that, they’d be bored out of their minds with all of the adults talking.
Profanity, crude language, and lots of F-bombs
Nudity. You see a topless woman several times, and the complete naked backside & frontside of a man (sometimes in the shadows)
Graphic premarital relations scenes
Subtitles when various foreign languages are spoken.