All the Old Knives – A Generic Star-Studded Spy Thriller (Early Review)

The spy thriller has been a classic genre across film and books, leaving generations on the edge of their collective seats because who doesn’t? That being said, it could only be done in so many different ways that the genre inevitably repeats itself at times. Regardless, it has amassed a treasure trove of fans that keep coming back for more in spite of its issues. However, when it hits, it truly hits thus breaking through all the noise. When it comes to All the Old Knives, a spy thriller based on the book of the same name by Olen Steinhauer, is merely more of the same for better or worse. What makes the film stand out is its cast but they could only do so much. While the pieces are there, the end result is a generic, dialog-heavy watch that is just dull over the course of its many twists and turns. Though nothing about the film truly jumps out or brings anything new to the table, some of those pieces can very well still appeal to more diehard fans of the genre.

All the Old Knives takes place in the midst of a failed CIA operation in Vienna, Austria six years prior involving an airplane hijacked by terrorists. The story saw two operatives working on that mission, Henry Pelham (Pine) and Celia Harrison (Newton), reunite to go over what happened back then as an attempt to find a potential mole on their former team. Over the course of those six years, their lives had gone in different directions. Former lovers, their reunion was an awkward one but their chemistry remained. From there, knowing what we know about the genre as a whole, the events of that failed mission were not quite what they seemed. Or at least that’s what it appeared to be as characters spoke in cryptic cliches while a generic score played in the background. As the film went on and the truth slowly came to light, Pelham and Harrison also ironed out their issues. Despite that, there was still the elephant in the room which was the potential mole therefore characters couldn’t always necessarily be trusted all the way to the end as the film takes viewers on a roller coaster of twists and turns.

Spending most of its time in a coastal California restaurant, the film was essentially a cat and mouse game between Pelham and Harrison that left viewers to decipher all the clues both above and below the surface. Doing so through dialog, this strategy could make for a dull watch, especially for those turned off by the cryptic dialog that makes the film try to be smarter than it really is. As the film depends so much on those two characters, with appearances from Vienna, CIA Chief of Station Victor Wallinger (Fishburne) and Pelham and Harrison’s superior Bill Compton (Pryce), the connection with them is where All the Old Knives lives or dies. But to the credit of the film’s great cast, they at least keep the film watchable. Though the scenes between Pelham and Harrison could have been a slog to get through, the stellar chemistry between Pine and Newton made them somewhat fun to watch.

At the end of the day, All the Old Knives is a solid watch ultimately destined to disappear within the plethora of other films in the same genre in spite of its stars who could give it a slightly more relevance.

still courtesy of Amazon Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.