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Debt, The (15)

Drama, Thriller

The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington) tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin.

At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team's mission was accomplished - or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations. Read more …


The critical consensus

The Debt just about pays off as entertainment without saying anything particularly significant about the weighty issues it skirts around.

***(*)(*)Eddie Harrison, The List, 14/09/2011

Smart and suspenseful, The Debt packs in enough surprises to make you forgive its last minute collapse. Chastain, meanwhile, shows why everybody’s talking about her.

****(*)Neil Smith, Total Film, 14/09/2011

A smart, tense, well-acted thriller undercut by a disappointing finale and an occasional lack of focus. But at least this offers something for those looking for a film with more on its mind than simple set-pieces.

***(*)(*)Empire Online, 26/09/2011

What really impresses is not The Debt's clunky script, but the effort put in to animate it...basically it's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with Nazis.

***(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 27/09/2011

There’s the overall feeling of hard work not quite paying off, but the gorgeous and game Chastain quietly salvages everything she can.

**(*)(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 29/09/2011

Could and should have been a great character piece, but is strangled by commercial conservatism.

Tom Seymour, Little White Lies, 29/09/2011

With it’s powerful performances, good twists and fast-pacing The Debt is a welcome adult thriller that supplies the tension, stakes and strong characterization missing from Tinker Tailor.

****(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 29/09/2011

If this kind of well-made picture looks dated, that's a shame.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 29/09/2011

Intelligent but dull.

**(*)(*)(*)Chris Tookey, Daily Mail, 29/09/2011

Emotionally, The Debt misses the target. But as a tense thriller, it scores a bullseye.

****(*)Daily Record, 30/09/2011

A terrific first hour, all the same.

***(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 30/09/2011

If it's not perfect, it's still a rich, well- directed espionage thriller, proof that Gary Oldman and co aren't playing the only spy game in town.

Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday, 02/10/2011

One does not want to give away too much, or indeed any, of the subsequent plot, but it is dramatically unconvincing and morally unsatisfactory.

Philip French, The Observer, 02/10/2011

Debt, The (15)

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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