CAPSULE: Our Kind of Traitor (2016, Dir.Susanna White)

It's been a while since Ewan McGregor has given good Everyman. Finally in Our Kind of Traitor he's back and his Everyman powers are in full force. By some twist of Everyman fate, McGregor (as poetics lecturer Perry) ends up playing security blanket to an itchy-footed Russian mob accountant, Dima (Stellan Skarsård). After passing over a USB of mob account info to M16 (to Damian Lewis, for those who are interested), shit, unsurprisingly, gets real.

So does Everyman.

Perry and his barrister wife, Gail (Naomie Harris), get into the thick of the action without too much soul searching. Director Susanna White would have us believe that's because they're both upstanding, moral British citizens (something Perry's hinted-at entanglements would appear to contradict). Admittedly, their readiness to throw themselves in the firing line gets a bit laughable as the film goes on. It rarely hinders the tension, though; that remains suitably nail-biting throughout.

Our Kind of Traitor comes to the big screen from the pen of espionage stalwart, John le Carré by way of screenwriter Hossein Amini, who has given us the good (Drive), the bad (Snow White and the Huntsman) and the ugly (47 Ronin). This one has most in common with his 2014 Patricia Highsmith adaptation, The Two Faces of January. It shares that adaptation's determined serviceability. Basically, if a good ride's what you're after, you'll get it but not much more.

Production values are solid throughout. Visuals slick. Editing pacey. Performances believable (as far as they need to be).

A passable couple of hours in the dark.

★★★

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