Secret in their eyes is a real thriller and
horror story marked by obsessions, compulsions, and over-reactions. It opens in the present, but now and
then goes back 12 years to a time when Ray (Ejiofor), Jess (Roberts), Claire
(Kidman), Siefert (Kelly), Bumpy (Norris) and D.A. Morales (Molina) all worked
in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. At that time, the daughter of Jess was brutally murdered,
and although much effort was put into finding the killer, they were
unsuccessful.
Ray and Jeff and her daughter were good
friends, and unbeknownst to anyone else, he spent the 12 years looking at
police mug shots in hopes of finding the perp. He is convinced that the man was a guest at one of their
office picnics where a group picture was taken, but no one in the office admits
to knowing him much less inviting him.
Ray’s persistence and intimidation eventually yields a name, Marzin (Joe
Cole) and although Ray has only come back as an FBI contractor to seek out
terrorists, he talks the present #2 person in the office, Claire, into allowing
him to do police work on the case on the QT.
Nevertheless he runs into major resistance by
Kelly and Morales who are using Marzin as an informer. The time is shortly after the 9/1/1
terrorist attack, and they are convinced that Marzin has a major lead into a
second planned attack.
Obsessed, Ray continues to pursue Marzin and
convinces Claire and Jess that he is the one. An interrogation of Marzin by Ray and Claire (a horrific and
hilarious interchange) seems to yield a confession. But the plot is just heating up. Morales gets word of their undercover work and in no
uncertain terms makes them let Marzin go free.
After that, there are still fits and starts in
the case, but major revelations will ensue that will be shocking. In this respect, Secret in their Eyes is well conceived and it certainly is exciting
and interesting. It’s too bad
Director Billy Ray and his team did not give more thought to how they portray
police work; poor judgment and repeated breaching of professional boundaries on
the part of the main characters detracts from the quality of the work. I regarded a couple of items as cheap
tricks; namely, lurching back and forth between two time periods rather than
proceeding chronologically, making the plot more confusing; and divulging
information clearly intended to lead the viewer to a false conclusion.
Moreover, I found the implicit approval of
ignoring proper channels for justice objectionable. Those channels and boundaries are based on good judgment and
portraying characters as heroic when they go beyond them seems unwise on the part
of filmmakers simply for thrills.
Despite the weaknesses in plot, the actors do a
superb job in their roles.
Roberts’ portrayal of a grieving mother who shows ambivalence in
bringing up the case again and her role, if any, in it is finely done. Ejiofor and Kidman are likewise fine
individually, but the chemistry between them is so diluted, it’s impossible to
see them as having a torch for one another. That part seemed like an add-in because someone thought they
needed a romantic touch somewhere.
Molina is appropriately terrifying in his portrayal of a man obsessed in
preventing any more terrorist attacks, and Kelly and Norris lend major support
in their roles.
We could call this a thriller with fine
actors; you just need to overlook some flaws in the plot.
Grade: C By Donna R. Copeland
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