“Traitor” follows two directions that do not have common ground and the movie’s big mistake is that it does not focus entirely on either one of them. On the one hand, the new thriller strives to be a breathtaking action blockbuster and, on the other hand, it pulls out all the stops in order to be seen as a reflective and intellectual drama with reference to religion and terrorism.

In addition to this, it tries to cover every perspective upon these matters and provide all ideological views, an attempt that may give the impression of both eccentricity and improbability.

However, despite all its minuses, the film directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff is gripping and thought provoking, as it brings to light many innovative ideas, which have been neglected up to now.

The movie opens in 1978’s Sudan, when the quiet life of a little boy named Samir is suddenly smashed to smithereens when his father is killed in a car blast. We subsequently move on to nowadays Yemen, where adult Samir enters the scene, played by Don Cheadle. He is an explosive supplier for a group of mujahideens from Afghanistan.

However, Samir gets in real trouble when one of his illegal deals is suddenly interrupted by a police raid, which claims numerous deaths. Although Samir survives, he is arrested and thrown into a filthy, grimy prison, worse than Abu Ghraib if you can even imagine that.

FBI agents Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Archer (Neal McDonough) question the new inmate trying to find out whether he’s a real terrorist, a corrupt arms dealer, a respectable Muslim American or a rebellious U.S. Special Operations officer. Obsessed with unearthing the truth, Clayton hunts Horn across the globe as the hard to pin down former soldier is more mysterious than the invisible man.

Although “Traitor” moves from one place to another and sometimes feels like the usual swift and artificial action film, it does analyze disturbing ethical quandaries, coming from time to time to mind-blowing conclusions, which will definitely draw your attention, even if you’ll have a hard time believing them.