George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) went to a club to meet Philip Meacham. Meacham explained that the agency had a traitor. He provided a list with 5 names. One of the names on the list was Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), who happened to be George's wife. In order to ferret out the rat, George invited all of them to dinner at his home. George is a gourmet; he also drugged the food. Once everyone was sufficiently lubricated, the game began. Make a resolution for the person on your right. It turned out that everyone was sleeping with everyone else, but nothing to mark out a traitor. However, after dinner, George spotted something amiss that implicated his wife.
In the week that followed, George investigated the suspects, including his wife. His investigations led to further incriminating evidence against his wife! Even if she was guilty, he would protect her. He needed to thwart a clandestine plan while keeping his wife safe. The crisscross of lies led everyone to suspect one another.
The climax was something of a letdown. It is a replay of the original dinner party with life on the line. That the villain grabbed the gun provided by the host as though it was actually useful was beyond foolish. Of course, it's a dummy gun. How in the world could anyone - especially someone who works in intelligence - believe a loaded gun would just be offered?
Fassbender plays George as a flat, emotionless man. He makes Roger Moore's raised eyebrow look like Shatnerian overacting by comparison. He is a cold calculating machine with a keen eye for deception. Cate Blanchett is similarly limited in emotional range. It definitely gives the impression that these spies are focused and unflappable. By contrast, the satellite operator, Clarissa, has wide emotional swings and the psychologist, Zoe, felt very normal as a person. Pierce Brosnan plays Arthur Stieglitz, the chief of the agency. It is not a good role, as he gets outmaneuvered by his subordinates and seemed to be oblivious to what was happening.
The movie feels like an old British spy thriller in the vein of The Ipcress File or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. There is a lot of dialogue and no action. This is more of a whodunit than a spy movie. That the villain proved to be sloppy and incompetent was disappointing.
Just okay.
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