Synopsis
In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles is a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a colleague from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, a CIA field agent who is working under cover at the American embassy is tasked with keeping Mason alive and ensuring that the mission is a success.
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Cast
- Jon HammMason Skiles
- Rosamund PikeSandy Crowder
- Shea WhighamGary Ruzak
- Dean NorrisDonald Gaines
- Mark PellegrinoCal Riley
- Douglas HodgeSully
- Alon AbutbulRoni Niv
- Kate FleetwoodAlice Riley
- Leïla BekhtiNicole
- Jonny CoyneBernard Teppler
Recommendations
- 80
The Guardian
This isn’t a particularly chancy film, unless the decision to go old school is considered such. It is still, however, quite good. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Increasingly tense and benefiting from a well-thought-out script by Tony Gilroy, it finds a slim opening for heroics in a place where all parties are tainted. - 80
Variety
Hamm’s bleary but still debonair presence, Gilroy’s cynically witty dialogue, and the not-quite-confusingly-large array of colorful characters underline how Beirut aims to be less a statement about Middle Eastern strife than a good yarn propelled by the unpredictable currents of international politics. - 80
New York Magazine (Vulture)
In Beirut, Hamm still doesn’t have the outsize personality we associate with major movie stars — a lot of whom are lesser actors. But he has focus. He can think onscreen. He can make you watch him closely, trying to keep up with the wheels churning in his head. I think he has fully arrived on the big screen. - 70
TheWrap
Beirut contains all the elements of a fun, snappy, pre-summer jaunt. And yet the film is actively in competition with itself. The tone is grim and honest when it wants to be, but not necessarily when it needs to be. - 67
Austin Chronicle
What papers over any remaining cracks is the perfect casting of Hamm as the fixer turned business consultant dragged back into the morass. His raw charisma, and near-peerless ability to sweat martinis through a disheveled linen suit and still look stylish, sends the film's moral compass spinning – exactly as it should. - 67
The A.V. Club
Though entertaining in stretches, the central metaphor of back-channel dealmaking as a game of Texas Hold ’em — played by Skiles and different factions within the CIA, the PLO, and the Israeli government — comes up short in the end. - 63
Slant Magazine
Brad Anderson's Beirut doesn't quite make foreign espionage look fun, but it shows how it might appeal to the sort of masochist who's also an adrenaline addict.
