Five Fingers

FIVE FINGERS (2006) - Aug. 17, 2009
A clunky but essentially enjoyable film about a man who gets kidnapped by a group of Muslims while on a trip in Africa, and the interrogation that follows. Though this doesn't seem to have been based on a play, I wouldn't be surprised if the screenplay was originally written for the theatre; it is exceptionally stagey. The movie essentially consists of a series of conversations between Laurence Fishburne and Ryan Phillippe, and though it's always basically entertaining, writer/director Laurence Malkin squanders the tension inherent in the premise, and the movie is never as suspenseful as it's trying to be (or should be trying to be). It definitely doesn't help that Malkin's directorial style is non-existent, and that the low-rent score only serves to remind you that you're watching a low-budget film. The performances are all quite good -- Phillippe, who is saddled with a bizarre Dutch accent that's never really convincing, still manages to give a pretty good performance, and Fishburne gives an expectedly reliable performance (despite also being saddled with an accent, though his is slightly more convincing). **1/2