"A Most Wanted Man" is a film most people need to see. I did not intend to write a review, I was saving my time and energy to do that for "The Awful Truth" (1937. However I was so impressed with this movie that I felt compelled to write a few lines encouraging others to catch this intelligent, adult and engrossing piece of film-making. I will dispense with the plot. Why? You can get that on IMDb. What I want to write about is this: "A Most Wanted Man" is a mature movie and I use that expression as the highest form of a compliment. It is thoughtful, well crafted, smartly constructed and shrewdly paced, building to a shattering finale (The whole film leads to this devastating ending and is worth staying with to experience). John Le Carre' wrote the book the movie is based on and helped to produce. Philip Seymour Hoffman heads an incredibly talented cast-his performance alone is worth watching the film. I know he was facing some personal demons while filming-he doesn't allow them to interfere with his craftsmanship A fitting role to say goodbye with and I am grateful. If for nothing else than to pay respects to Mr. Hoffman, please catch this film

Here's an espionage thriller you can sink your teeth into, but better stay attentive because the foreign characters and names can derail the distracted viewer pretty quickly. The story sets up a quandary as to the true character of Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrigin), is he a terrorist or someone who wants to renounce his heritage and simply live a peaceful life? What gives the picture it's resonance is the conflicting methods between German and American intelligence authorities and how much leeway they'll give Karpov to lead them to an even bigger fish in the terrorist network. Double crossed by both the German intelligence chief Mohr (Rainer Bock) and his American counterpart Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright), Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is ruthlessly blindsided in what would have been a successful operation. It's all in the eye of the beholder ultimately, as making the world a safer place doesn't have a normal set of rules.

(Some spoilers) although the movie does most of the spoiling.This story defies logic. About half way through the movie you ask yourself, "when is something going to happen". Up until that time, the "bad guy" hadn't done anything to warrant being targeted as the bad guy. When the credits start rolling, the bad guy still hasn't done anything bad. A line conspicuously missing from the dialogue - "hey guys, maybe he's not a terrorist"If the goal of the ending was to make the audience feel as betrayed as the main character, it succeeded. I feel for the great actors who found themselves trapped in this horrible script.

Let's face it, A MOST WANTED MAN is basically a Cold War thriller updated to the post 9/11 era. Only this time the enemies are not the Soviets or the CIA, but Islamic terrorists. But then what else would one expect from the pen of John le Carré?In its clichéd way, the film is a good example of the genre, building up suspense gradually until the dénouement when Gunther (Philip Seymour Hoffman) realizes that all his plans have gone awry. Granted, the action is not without its stereotypes (western filmmakers can never seem to understand the Islamic form of prayer, especially the five-times-a-day worshiping ritual, while the general view expressed by the Europeans is that most members of the Islamic faith are suspect, even if they lead perfectly normal lives). On the other hand, the direction is pleasantly low-key, with plenty of atmosphere placed on the dank, muddy-colored streets of Hamburg.In the end A MOST WANTED MAN shows nobody actually winning the battle - or should it be struggle - to "make the world a safer place." The US Embassy (personified by a sour-faced Robin Wright) are shown to be entirely self-interested, more concerned with maintain the country's status as the world's sole superpower rather than worrying about individual people. Gunther tries to show his humanity, but in the end even he reduces the people whom he deals with to ciphers.