Secret in Their Eyes

I have not seen the Spanish “El secreto de sus ojos”, nor have I read the novel it is based on. One thing’s for sure, they must be absolutely brilliant. I can tell because you can see the beams of light, the signs of a good movie piercing through the dreary darkness that is the 2015 American remake/adaptation. We’re reviewing “Secret in Their Eyes”, a movie that has moments which are so good… they will make you want to leave the theatre and rent the 2009 original instead.

The film flashes back and forth between two time periods. The first is right after the 9/11 attacks, where a team of FBI agents, Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Jess (Julia Roberts) are overlooking some suspicious potential terrorists when a call comes in. There’s been a murder and Jess’ daughter Carolyn (Zoe Graham) is the victim. Everyone in the department is devastated, but things are amiss with the investigation. When the case goes unsolved is where the second time period comes in. Ray has been pouring through thousands of mug shots and he’s finally found him. After 13 years, he’s found the killer. While he contemplates delivering some vigilante justice, Ray’s supervisor and longtime crush Claire (Nicole Kidman) remain unsure while Jess, still traumatized from the event appears unable to make a decision either way.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was sold: a revenge story 13 years in the making; a plot that rights an imbalance in the scales of justice; shaky morals and possible corruption in the legal department? Nicole Kidman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts in the lead roles? It doesn’t get any better than that, particularly considering Nicole Kidman just keeps getting hotter and hotter with every movie. I was right. The plot is terrific. The characters are complex. You cheer for them all the way and hope that they get the creep. The ending is as firm and satisfying as the body of a corrupt cop buried underneath a ton of cement… So where does it go wrong?

The agonizing part is that the characters are utterly incompetent. These are supposed to be trained professionals. They’re not rookie cops, so why do they make amateur mistakes over and over? My police training goes as far as watching a couple of episodes of CSI and some choice police thrillers, but I feel like I would do a better job investigating this murder than Ray does, regardless of what cartoonish conspiracies (or lack thereof) are at work behind closed doors. I can get behind a movie where the killer gets away, or the police make a mistake and a key piece of evidence is suddenly inadmissible. “Secret in their Eyes” takes it way too far. Let me draw you a picture here. So let’s say you found out that the killer was a fan of “Pride Day” because you hacked into his computer or did some other kind of illegal thing. What would be the best way to confront him/her? I tell you what I would do, dress up in a costume (that way if the person sees you and gets away, they won’t recognize you when you try again next time) and scope out the place. Get some backup, lie if you have to and encircle the culprit. Arrest them when they’re nice and isolated, maybe later at night when there aren’t floats, fireworks, balloons and celebrations all over the place. Or how about just following them and finding out where they live? I’ve come up with a plan that’s far more likely to succeed than anything concocted by these bumbling agents.

You’ll be tearing your hair out seeing our heroes fail again and again. You already know how half this movie is going to end. The flashbacks to the past are useless because we know the guy’s going to get away. In any other film this could have worked, but I could never truly sympathize with Ejiofor’s character, not only in his investigation (which I would say he’s chief in making it fail) but also in his romantic sub-plot. He’s spent 13 years pining over Claire. She’s gorgeous, but come on dude! It’s like that guy in the bad romantic comedies we all hate so much. He was too chicken to ask the girl out in high school and years later he’s rich, handsome and successful but he STILL can’t ask her. That doesn’t make you sensitive; it makes you a loser. As I said, in any other movie it would have worked, but standing right next to Officer No-Heart (Michael Joseph Kelly as Reg Siefert), countless other questionable characters or developments and the killer that screams “GUILTY” so loud you can’t believe no one’s simply framed them for every unsolved murder in the county, it’s just too much. We’re not talking about something that happened in the backwoods decades ago, we’re talking about the daughter of an FBI agent in modern times. The implications about why the plot goes the way it does are simply unbelievable.

Maybe I’m getting better at reading behind the lines or I’m some kind of genius. Either way, I feel like I was able to pinpoint every plot element that was tweaked or emphasized by screenplay writer/director Billy Ray to make this film appeal to dummies that don’t want to read subtitles or are simply unfortunate enough not to have heard of the 2009 Academy Award Winner. Because of this, I was also able to enjoy portions of the film, imagining them in a better movie. Julia Roberts is great as a woman who is completely broken. The ending is spot-on. There are nuggets of a good movie throughout, but I can’t recommend it. It’s not a total loss though; I’m really looking forward to “El secreto de sus ojos”! (Theatrical version on the big screen, December 2, 2015)