Gyllenhaal is the greenhorn CIA station chief (in what appears to be Egypt) who's assigned to monitor the inquisition - portrayed here as an example of the ongoing U.S. program to outsource torture to foreign governments.
The movie's goal is simple - use the power of movies to show us the cruelty and inhumanity of torture, and lead us to conclude that it's always wrong, no matter how many layers you place between the act and the information that may result. An admirable goal, one that torture opponents like Sen. John McCain would heartily endorse.
"Rendition," however, turns out to be its own kind of multiplex waterboarding - in fact, it may be used to elicit information from al Qaeda men in the future, much as rock music was used to smoke Manuel Noriega out of his Panamanian bunker back in the day.
Clips could wear down the most hardened terrorist: Talk, Osama, or be forced to watch Gyllenhaal take another languid hit from his hookah pipe!
What a strange performance this is - Gyllenhaal mopes, lying in his bed next to a bottle of bourbon, his big sensitive eyes staring vacantly into space.
One assumes that he's meant to be wrestling with his conscience, but he does muster the strength to wrestle with his gorgeous Egyptian girlfriend, and I have to say, watching her walk around wearing nothing but one of his oxford shirts made me feel somewhat less than sorry for him.
Director Gavin Hood has handed Witherspoon an equally one-note role - her job is to furrow her little brow and look worried, and this she does, for what seems like forever.
The only actor who seems to be up for this is Meryl Streep, playing another "Manchurian Candidate" right-wing nightmare, with obvious relish.
It's not enough to save "Rendition," however, which wavers between tepid star turns and a Romeo and Juliet subplot involving an al Qaeda assassin and the daughter of the lead inquisitor - a story that's ridiculous even broken up and bookended as it is here, to give this flat movie a trick ending. *
Produced by Steve Golin, David Kanter, Keith Redmon, Michael Sugar and Marcus Viscidi, directed by Gavin Hood, written by Kelley Shane, music by Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian, distributed by New Line Cinema.
