If you’re a practitioner of the black or white system of thought, “Traitor” will prove to be a ‘black’ waste of time. But if you like grays, and differentiate all hues of this achromatic color, this movie is for you.

Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who signed “The Day After Tomorrow” in 2004, was in charge with the direction and co-writing of the new movie. For the script, he teamed up with Steve Martin, hence the multitude of grays we’ve mentioned. The movie is full of action, the plot is twisted and mysterious and in no moment will the audiences know something for certain. And in fact, what is certainty and who can put their finger on it?

“Traitor” could have been a flop in many ways. The writers could have limited themselves to the stereotypes about Muslims and the result would have been a reeled-off production about how bad the Middle East is and how good the United States are. Also, the writing team could have been less vague and thus, the frowns on the moviegoers’ foreheads would have been caused by annoyance and not by genuine focus. Moreover, the cast could have been different and the movie would have landed on the direct-to-DVD list. But “Traitor” bears none of these mistakes.

The movie focuses on Samir, a character who is impeccably played by Don Cheadle, who seems totally genuine impersonating the chameleonic protagonist. As a child, Samir witnessed his father, a committed Muslim, being killed by a car bomb. Whether he was killed by opposing Muslims or by Muslim haters will constitute the enigma that will enhance the mystery surrounding Samir.

He moves to the US with his mother and later becomes an undercover Special Op for the United States. Without political affiliations, but having strong Muslim convictions, thirty years later Samir gets arrested in Yemen, for trying to sell plastic explosives to jihadist Ahmed (Aizoun Abdelkader). While in a sweaty prison there, he and a devoted jihadist, Omar (Said Taghmaoui) befriend and make a resounding prison break. Embassies blow up in Europe after their escape and they plan to execute attacks on US soil.

On the other side of the barricade, there are FBI agents Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) and his colleague (Neal McDonough) who can’t reach an agreement on how to deal with the case and a CIA agent (Jeff Daniels) obliquely intervenes. America will again be outraged that it has enemies, just as the nation couldn’t overcome this shock at the unfortunate events of 9/11. Watching the movie will represent the materialization of everyone’s terrorism nightmares and it won’t be easy to bear. Just as it happens in the movie, in reality, too, people like Clayton acknowledge the inconsistencies of the US foreign policies but cannot do anything to alleviate the situation, but their own job.

Don Cheadle is a wonderful worker in the movie. Just as he demonstrated before in movies like the “Ocean’s” trilogy or “Hotel Rwanda,” he is a great actor. He amplifies the mystery of the movie, viewers won’t know on which side his character is and what will happen next. The movie’s unpredictability is ensured by his skills.