Despite its compelling twist with a complex political background that drives the film, Beirut is still a fairly cliche political thriller. The narrative and some details still follow the familiar formula of any other political thriller. However, perhaps, Jon Hamm playing as a dandy American diplomat may compel you to watch this movie.

Beirut The Negotiator

The movie starts with showing Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) and his wife Nadia(Leila Bekhti), a happy couple living in a huge mansion having a party with his diplomat and expat friends. The scenes also show the different face of Beirut before the civil war started. This capital of Lebanon looks very vibrant, liberal, and diverse.

The Skiles family recently takes care of a Palestinian boy named Karim (idir Chender)whose visa to expatriate to USA is on the way. Everything looks perfect for Skiles and his family. However, Karim has a secret that alters the course of the story.

Soon, we will be taken into 10 years later where Mason Skiles now depressed and alcoholic arbitrator. One day, he was offered a ticket back to Beirut to be a visiting lecturer at a university in Beirut. As soon as he landed, the Beirut that once he knew was no longer the same. He witnessed someone shot in front of the airport and the man who picked him up said, " welcome to Beirut".

At some scenes we were shown how he felt nostalgic about how happy he was. Although, apparently he was invited for something far more important than just giving a lecture. He ended up negotiating the release of his former friend, a CIA agent who stayed in Beirut long after Skiles’ wife got killed during one incident involving Karim.

During all of this, he had to make amends with his past whilst also getting to uncover the dirty secret operation in Beirut. So, what actually happened to Karim, Skiles, and his CIA friend? you have to check out this movie produced and written by Tony Gilroy released in 2018.

However, I have to warn you about another consideration before watching this movie. There are so many scenes that are familiar and similar with other war torn middle east settings. The scenes are actually quite jumpy in a sense that you have to give full attention to uncover the actual villain of the story. And not to mention, the music is far too familiar especially if you often watch movies with, again, middle-eastern scenes.

What I can appreciate is that the movie boldly touched on the heavy subject such as the relationship between the US and Israel which was noted as a "father and son" relationship in the movie. There are a few cliches representation of the middle east in this movie as well but just like mogadishu that I reviewed earlier, they suffer similar problems.

Perhaps one thing that I liked about this movie was only the dandy John Hamm and his accent. Otherwise, it was quite hard to follow the storyline. Unless you are into political thrillers, you could doze off from watching this movie. All in all, I would rate 6/10 under a category of a movie that I will never re-watch again.

I had two options at the time before landing my choice on Beirut. It was the diplomat that had its full movie available on youtube. At the moment I am into political thrillers and have received some recommendations. However, I also like to browse the community to find movies that I am currently fascinated about. My preferred genre often falls under thriller, espionage, political, and adventure, scifi, and biography. On the side, I also like foreign films and cultural films. But sometimes, I like to check other genres as well just to learn about its screenplay. Let me know in the comment section if you have a recommendation for me and I’ll make sure to watch them when I can.

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Mac is a jack of all trades. A typical introvert in love with literature, books, technology and philosophy. She is also into nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than that, she is passionate about cooking and traveling. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, leave a comment or a feedback. A re-blog is also appreciated.