‘All the Old Knives’: Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton Bring Tension to a Slow Burner 

Alci Rengifo

Thrillers like “All the Old Knives” prove that a great cast can elevate almost any material. Here we have a spy yarn that boasts Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce and relegates them to mostly sitting around talking. This may not make for riveting suspense, but it certainly showcases why these actors have been so notable. The plot stays loyal to the premise of the 2015 source novel by Olen Steinhauer, who writes the screenplay. He keeps the premise as former CIA colleagues trying to talk about a terrorist incident that marked their careers. When it comes to movie terror plots, this one isn’t the most original. What counts is that Pine and Newton in particular, add the chemistry on their own.

The wheels of the premise begin turning in 2012 Vienna, where jihadists hijack a Royal Jordanian flight. The CIA’s local station, headed by Victor Wallinger (Fishburne), goes into full crisis mode. Field operative Henry Pelham (Pine) tracks down agency contacts to get some answers while his lover and colleague, Celia Harrison (Newton), is at the office working to resolve the situation. But the hijacking results in tragedy when everyone, including a CIA operative on the flight, is killed. Years later, a Chechen extremist, Ilyas Shushani (Orli Shuka), is captured and claims he had orchestrated the attack with the help of a mole in the agency. Wallinger decides to send Henry on a new mission to interrogate key players like Celia, now married in California’s wine country, and former deputy station chief, Bill Compton (Pryce) to get answers. 

Director Janus Metz takes on the challenge of resolving this puzzle through a combination of conversations and flashbacks. This is not the usual spy thriller where Pine or Newton would be chasing someone down some stairs or getting into car chases. We as the audience have to try and pinpoint who might be a liar. Pine and Newton are the main players and their performances must sustain our attention. It’s no easy feat since the traumatic event that marked their careers is a slapdash of weak clichés. The average viewer might not care, but Steinhauer’s fictional take on geopolitics is rather sloppy. For most of the movie we don’t understand why the hijackers took the plane. They then turn out to be jihadist radicals linked to Chechen Islamist rebels, who trained in Iran. In the real world this would mean they are most likely Sunni Muslims, so they would most likely pop out of the Gulf States and not Shia Iran. Later, Shuka shares about the rage that erupted in him when his sick daughter couldn’t receive medical aid in Iran because of U.S. sanctions. It’s a plausible scenario, just not for a Chechen rebel. The Iranians, who have an unsavory regime for sure, are just an easier go-to villain than, let’s say, the Saudis. 

Putting aside geopolitical qualms, this really is a film of chit chat. Henry and Celia sit at a fancy restaurant in Carmel, California for the whole movie, twilight bathing the room. We see them move around in flashbacks to when they were workplace lovers, even stealing a kiss or two while the office scrambles to deal with the terrorists.  Pine and Newton even have one of those steamy sex scenes yanked from the ‘90s set inside a darkened apartment, with just enough light on their thighs and posteriors. That’s about as steamy as their relationship gets. Most of the dialogue consists of asking who knew who, where someone was on a given day and what phone records reveal. Jonathan Pryce, who is also in Apple TV’s much more engaging spy series “Slow Horses,” likewise has more action in flashbacks before sitting in a booth pleading his side of the story with Henry. Laurence Fishburne is a bit of a throwaway character.

What works best is the psychological tension that builds between Henry and Celia. Pine and Newton capture that awkwardness mixed with familiarity that former co-workers, who were also involved, can feel when meeting again. There is more somber moments in “All the Old Knives” than thrills. These are seasoned veterans now looking back at the lives they once had, marked by moments they still can’t escape. One of them has a guiltier conscience than the others, but none will let themselves be too vulnerable and reveal it. Metz and Steinhauer, it must be said, do manage to pull off a surprise twist at the end. It rings as slightly too corny with its use of poisons, yet you don’t really see it coming. “All the Old Knives” may not have the most unique inciting incident, but it does come armed with stellar actors that bring enough longing and mystery to dinner.

“All the Old Knives” releases April 8 on Amazon Prime Video and in select theaters.