All the Old Knives Parent Guide

Eight years ago, a plane in Vienna was hijacked and every passenger on board was killed, despite the best efforts of American intelligence agents. Now, Henry Pelham (Chris Pine) has been tasked with reopening the case to determine if a mole in the agency could have been behind the devastating failure. His investigation leads him his former lover and fellow agent, Celia (Thandiwe Newton), who seems to know more than she’s let on.

As far as spy movies go, this is probably as realistic as you could get. What I mean by that is that the spies work primarily through intelligence gathering, cultivating relationships with informants, and having meetings in soulless boardrooms. This is not Mission Impossible. There are no high-speed chases through the streets of Mombasa (why is it always Mombasa?) or hyper-realistic masks, or Tom Cruise hanging off the side of an airplane. I suppose that one could argue that this film becomes boring because of that fact, but I personally found that the realism allowed for deeper character exploration and a fantastically written story.

A story focused this intently on character lives and dies by the performances, and luckily Pine and Newton are more than up to the task. Along with the supporting cast, who are wonderful as well, the two leads carry what could have been a tedious slog into an emotional and captivating exploration of motivation, love, and the value of human life. The entire movie takes place at one dinner table for crying out loud, and yet I was glued to the screen, waiting to see what would happen next. The writers deftly move between past and present, keeping the audience guessing until the end. Although the tension is not as intense as say, a more typical thriller, the slow and steady build is expertly done and creates a fantastic catharsis when the credits roll.

As you may have guessed from the plot summary, this is not a movie for children. Although nowhere near as violent as other entries in the genre, the subject matter itself could be upsetting to sensitive viewers. Along with that, there is also a detailed and explicit sex scene with some nudity and a fair number of f-bombs, which will deter many viewers. If negative content isn’t a concern for you, and you enjoy a slower, character-based film, All the Old Knives is an expertly made, written, and acted production with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.