Movie review: "Traitor" (2008)

The gist: Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) is so deep undercover, with such a convoluted political and military background, even he's not always sure which side he's on. Jihadist Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui) considers him a brother in arms. FBI Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) thinks he's a terrorist bomber. But a mysterious security contractor named Carter (Jeff Daniels) knows different.

Selling points: It's topical, obviously, although the level of operational detail in these sorta films raises concerns about people watching them for the wrong reason. Samir is an intriguing and dangerously capable character, willing to betray everything but his Muslim faith in pursuit of a nebulous greater good.

It's kinda like: Where its fellow terrorist yarns "The Kingdom" and "Body Of Lies" take place mainly in the Middle East, "Traitor" hops from country to country a la the "Bourne" series. And it features the same "crossing the line" dilemmas to thrillers about blokes infiltrating the Mafia, drug cartels, football hooligan gangs, etc.

Final word: One man's traitor is another man's hero.

[Australian cinema release date: November 6]