Secret in Their Eyes

2015  PG-13  DRAMA  1h 41min

CAST— Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Michael Kelly, Joe Cole, Alfred Molina

MUSIC— Emilio Kauderer  DIRECTOR— Billy Ray  BASED ON— La pregunta de sus ojos (novel), by Eduardo Sacheri

     Fairly interesting case file that spans over thirteen years. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a former FBI agent who is haunted by a cold case that hit a little too close to home. In 2002 he and his partner (Julia Roberts) are called to a crime scene where the body of a young woman was found. The victim is none other than Roberts’ daughter. The perpetrator is identified early, though he is virtually untouchable due to his cooperation with a counter-terrorism investigation. Ejiofor does his darndest to gather evidence that will stick, though his boss urges him to put the CT case in the foreground, whitewashing the subject’s heinous crime, going so far as destroying pertinent evidence. In the present Ejiofor believes that he has tracked down the guy again, and he’s determined to bring him to justice, once and for all. He and the new District Attorney (Nicole Kidman, whom Ejiofor always had a thing for) reopen the case, off the books, of course. Can the ever elusive killer now be caught, or is the past truly the past? Not so much entertaining as it is absorbing, with well rounded characters ranging from the slimy to the sympathetic. Marred only by convoluted continuity throughout, skipping from past to present on a whim. But if the film grabs you maybe you won’t mind so much. Final note: not recommended for family viewing due to frank adult content and disturbing scenes.

OUR RATING— ** ½

ORIGINAL— El secreto de sus ojos (2009)