All the Old Knives: All the Old Knives is a spy thriller film directed by Janus Metz Pedersen and written by Olen Steinhauer that was released in 2022. It stars Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Pryce, and David Dawson. It is based on Steinhauer’s novel of the same name, published in 2015.
All the Old Knives Cast
- Henry Pelham is played by Chris Pine.
- Celia Harrison is played by Thandiwe Newton.
- Vick Wallinger is played by Laurence Fishburne.
- Owen Lassiter is played by David Dawson.
- Bill Compton is played by Jonathan Pryce.
- Gala Gordon in the role of Waitress
- Karl Stein is played by Corey Johnson.
- Suleiman Abdulwahed as Abdul Alshareef
- Colin Stinton in the role of Moscow Staff Chief Ahd Kamel in the role of Laila Maroof
- Drew Favreau is played by David Bedella.
All the Old Knives Plot
All the Old Knives, a new film by Danish filmmaker Janus Metz Pedersen that is currently available on Amazon Prime Video, makes a strong case for not mixing one’s professional and personal lives. Its plot revolves around the relationship between Henry Pelham (Chris Pine) and Celia Harrison (Thandiwe Newton). The two ex-lovers both happen to be CIA coworkers.
It seeks to unravel two mysteries: the identity of the mole responsible for a terrorist attack that resulted in tragedy, and the reason for the couple’s estrangement.
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It helps that Henry and Celia are performed by two of Hollywood’s most elegant and intriguing actors. Chris Pine is at his most controlled, delivering just the appropriate amount of maturity and tenderness to a character who appears to be dealing with a lot while maintaining a dignified demeanour.
Thandiwe Newton, who plays a lady haunted by the vestiges of an agonizing past, is a good match for him. She knows something Henry doesn’t, but she waits until the last possible time to reveal that crucial piece of knowledge.
Even when Celia has moved on to pursue a purportedly fulfilling second life, we feel the influence of their relationship, which is fueled by beautifully sparkling chemistry. When Henry is tasked with finding the mole responsible for a plane hijacking, the ‘interrogation’ seems more like one lover attempting to figure out why the other left.
Henry is nothing like Captain Kirk from the Star Trek reboot, who was brash and overconfident. He’s more like a reincarnation of Wonder Woman’s sweet, fragile lover boy Steve Trevor. It’s possible that it’s because of the latter that Pine works so well in All the Old Knives.
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The supporting characters get an inordinate amount of attention, and with good cause. We receive a subtle sense of their crucial involvement in the upcoming events when they occasionally appear in front of Henry and Celia. It’s easy to see why Janus Metz Pedersen was chosen to direct Olen Steinhauer’s script (based on his novel of the same name).
Janus relies entirely on the performers’ expressions, gestures, pauses, and light and shadows to reveal or withhold information as a director who works best with restrained mood and character behaviour. There’s a touch of classic cinema here, such as the sequence where one side of Thandiwe’s face remains in shadow after one of the characters’ horrible secrets is revealed.
Two interrogation sessions carried out by one character in two distinct places and periods, played out concurrently, are my favourite moment—the film’s high point, really. Janus alternates between the past and the present; at other times, he keeps them both running concurrently.
This can be perplexing at times, but the performers’ various haircuts serve as time markers in case you blink and miss the captions that explain the period.
All the Old Knives was Released on Amazon Prime Video
On April 8, 2022, Amazon Studios released the film in limited theatres in the United States (serving as Amazon’s first release under United Artists Releasing, which Amazon had acquired a joint stake in through their recent acquisition of Metro Goldwyn Mayer a month prior), as well as on digital through Amazon Prime Video.
All the Old Knives Reviews and Ratings
On April 8, 2022, the film was released in limited theatres and on Amazon Prime Video; it was the first Amazon release through their new distribution subsidiary United Artists Releasing, which Amazon had acquired a joint stake in as part of their acquisition of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, which had closed a month prior to the film’s release.
The film has a 68 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10.” All the Old Knives fails in comparison to the dialogue-driven spy thrillers of the past,” the website’s critics agree, “yet the chemistry between its performers simmers even when the story doesn’t.”
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Based on 26 critics, Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, indicating “generally good reviews.”
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the film’s primary focus is on covert operations, All the Old Knives avoids exploiting this as a pretext to apply tried-and-true action movie tropes. A weaker filmmaker might have forced these in and made things unnecessarily unpleasant as a result.
Instead, it relies on old-fashioned sleuthing to unearth terrible secrets from the psychic minefields of its two protagonists. All the Old Knives is more Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum than John Le Carre.
On April 8, 2022, Amazon Studios released the film in limited theatres in the United States, as well as digital through Amazon Prime Video.