Traitor was one of those blink and you’ll miss it movies that came out at the end of last summer and didn’t open very wide past the major markets. That’s really too bad because it’s a competently thought out and executed geo-political thriller. It’s certainly not “This year’s Bourne Ultimatum” as the blurb on the DVD cover suggests, but nothing really could be and that’s quite a boast regardless. Now Traitor has some high-minded ideals about what it’s all about, and to a certain degree it meets those expectations. But a ridiculous climax though and a twist stupidly blown in the trailer, ruins any good momentum that the film possesses.

Don Cheadle plays Samir, a Sudanese-American and devout Muslim that works as an arms merchant operating in Yemen. Samir’s caught in a raid while selling explosives to a terrorist named Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui), and the two, though initially distrustful of each other, bond inside a Yemeni prison. Theymanage to escape and soon Samir and Omar join up with other terrorists in Paris as they make their way to America to launch what they believe will be a devastating attack. But Samir’s got pursuers in the form of FBI Agents Clayton (Guy Pierce) and Archer (Neal McDonough), and they both know that he’s up to something. And that’s to say nothing about Samir’s own conflicted feelings about his actions.

The film is interesting because it doesn’t take a cut and dry approach to the story. Although the terrorists in the cell, whose plan involves planting suicide bombers on 50 different passenger buses on Thanksgiving, are unquestionably bad guys, the methods and the investigation techniques of “the good guys” is the part that finds itself questioned. Of the FBI Agents, we see Clayton, the much more considered of the pair who took Arab studies in university and doubts Samir’s level of commitment to the cause, while Archer is the quick tempered one that hits first and asks questions later while talking about his home country in the big letters U.S. and A. It’s an interesting dynamic, and the film introduces it well, but it never quite seems that there’s any follow-up; Clayton and Archer are just always good cop, bad cop with nothing to capitalize on.

We learn that Samir is a double agent working for an “intelligence contractor” and trying to stop Omar’s cell rather than work with him. I got the impression that this was supposed to be one of those in-film reveals rather than a detail left hanging out in the trailer for all to see before hand. I think knowing this in advanced takes a little oomph out of the story, and not just Samir’s arc, although that would have made the character much more grey-shaded, but for the FBI Agents too because you know Samir isn’t as terrible as they think. Which is too bad because Cheadle is as cool as ice; his performance separated from the plot developments you know are coming, makes you think things could play out either way. He really nails a compelling mix of doubt, faith and control.

But aside from Cheadle’s grace and even-handed portrayal, much of the rest of the film unfolds rather typically, although it’s still very compelling and very well-paced. The climax seemed a little too pat though with everything being wrapped up in a neat, little package, to borrow a phrase. It ill-suits the more rounded approach to the subject matter the rest of the film plays with, and grates in a way even worse than Guy Pierce’s so-called southern accent. And worse still, you sat through this film for nearly two hours to have the rug pulled out; it has the smell of studio tampering written all over it. But despite that, I have to say this isn’t a bad piece of work in the slightest. I wish more action movies were this thoughtful and considered about its subject matter.