Years after a tragic murder interwove their lives and careers, a prosecutor (Nicole Kidman) and two federal agents (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts) reluctantly reunite when one among them believes the elusive culprit, freed before due to thin evidence and inter-agency duplicity, has reemerged. Roberts' bid to rid herself of any movie-star glamour to instead exude ashen intensity is admirable, but too self-conscious to connect, and Kidman is so restrained and underutilized as to barely register, but Ejiofor delivers a well-calibrated portrayal of despairing tunnel vision. The depth and precision of his performance elevates Secret in Their Eyes, a sleepy and unimaginative English-language update of the award-winning Argentine crime drama of the same name. Post-9/11 anxiety proves a wan stand-in for Argentina's "Dirty War" as a historical framing device. The past-present transitions inherent to the double-pronged structure are more confusing than intriguing; it nearly becomes a two-hour-plus game of Spot the Amount of Grey in Chiwetel Ejiofor's Beard. And the twist ending, already rather contrived in the original, is more labored (and shorter on resonance) here, a too-cute sting prefaced by a montage of the heavy-handed hints interspersed throughout the rest of the film.

C+

This was a snoozefest and basically an extended episode of "Law & Order." I don't think it really brought anything new or interesting to the table despite the constant references to 9/11 being used in order to make this feel timely or relevant. It's been done a thousand times before and while the twist ending makes sense it's ultimately stupid. The actors aren't to blame as I thought all three were solid to great, particularly Chiwetel Ejiofor. The best scene was when Nicole Kidman was interrogating the suspect and that's the only scene where I felt the kind of energy I think they were going for here. The big setpieces also felt so artificial - particularly that baseball sequence. Disappointing. C

Not that great or anything, but mostly entertaining and a few of the twists and turns at the end actually caught me by surprise a bit. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman give solid performances, but they have absolutely no chemistry. Acting-wise, the film belongs to Julia Roberts. This terrific performance of a grief-stricken, hollowed out shell of a woman elevates the film whenever she's on screen, and it's a shame she didn't have more screen time. B-

Secret in Their Eyes

I imagine David Fincher would have made this a superb and dark then-and-now investigation into a brutal murder/man-hunt. As it happens, it was directed by Billy Ray. It's not bad. It's just not riveting. All the elements are there, it's just not composed as it should have been. Chiwetel Ejiofor is pretty good, Nicole Kidman isn't, and Julia Roberts is in-between. On the one hand, she is good at going under-the-radar as a grief-stricken mother, but on the other she doesn't excite me (though the scene in the dumpster is pretty emotional). The twist ending is great. Not greatly executed, but the idea of it is awesome. The dialogue, at least early on, is fresh, and not stagnant like in most investigative-plotted thrillers. There were a few niggles in terms of various motives of the characters, but on the whole I liked the film.

B

I seem to have forgotten to write my review for this before. Then again, it's really nothing to write home about.

D+

This movie is done pretty bad and it would be an even bigger snoozefest if you have seen the original like I did. The three leads do fine but ofcourse in a relatively smaller screen time Roberts does great. The other two leads do a fine job but they don't have any chemistry here. I already knew the ending so it wasn't a big surprise but this entire movie wasn't even close to the execution of the original.

4/10