Movie: All the Old Knives (2022) Caution Spoiler Alert

 All the Old Knives

Came out; 2022

Time; 1 hours 41 minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rating; R for sexuality/nudity, violence and language

IMDB Rating; 6.1/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Chris Pine as Henry Pelham

Thandiwe Netwon as Celia Harrison

Laurence Fishburne as Vick Wallinger

Jonathan Pryce as Bill Compton

Story Line;

CIA agent Henry is tasked by his supervisor Vick to close an eight year old hijacking case that ended in tragedy. Vick has recently learned that there is a suspected mole who helped give the perpetrators information to impede the rescue attempt of the passengers. Being cleared by Vick, Henry is sent to interview his former colleague and lover, Celia, a possible suspect due to her abrupt departure from the CIA the day after the hijacking. The now married and retired Celia meets Henry in a California restaurant after he reaches out to her and asks her to dinner. Through multiple perspectives, timelines, and interviews Henry, Vick, and Celia hope to find out what truly transpired that day

Thoughts;

Yawn, this movie had a great plot but how boring and devoid of action could this be?!

It was slow, boring and drawn out

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

In early 2020, CIA officer Henry Pelham is informed by his boss, Vick Wallinger, that the CIA has reopened the case of Turkish Alliance 127, a 2012 terrorist hijacking which ended in tragedy. Headquarters suspects there was a leak from the Vienna station, where Henry and Vick work. Henry is sent to interview Celia Harrison, who also worked at the Vienna station at the time of the hijacking. Henry and Celia were lovers, but she left him shortly after the event.

Celia, now retired, lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California with her family. Henry meets her at an upscale restaurant, which is almost empty of customers and staff. As Henry and Celia talk, she reveals that an Austrian intelligence agent named Karl Stein approached her shortly after she moved to Carmel. He wanted her to inform on her coworkers, but she refused. Henry has Celia recall the events of the hijacking.

In a flashback to 2012, Flight 127 is on the runway when it is hijacked by four armed militants belonging to an Islamic terrorist group. The Vienna station jumps into action to address the crisis and learns that Ilyas Shushani, a Chechen and former informant for Henry, may be involved. The hijackers threaten to kill the passengers unless several of their comrades are released from custody. Ahmed, a CIA courier who happened to be on the plane, contacts the CIA and suggests an attack via the plane's undercarriage. Celia connects with a possible source named Mohammed, but the meeting seems to yield nothing of value. Henry tells Celia and her mentor, Bill Compton, that when Henry worked in Moscow his superiors forced him to betray Ilyas to the Russian government as a trade-off for intel on an imminent attack on a U.S. embassy.

The Vienna station receives another message from Ahmed saying that the terrorists have a camera mounted on the plane's undercarriage and the assault should be called off. Celia notices differences in the language of Ahmed's messages and fears he has been compromised. Checking the station's phone logs, she notices that a call to Iran was placed from Bill's office phone. Then Ahmed is killed and thrown off the plane. The next day, Celia leaves both Henry and Vienna.

In the present, Henry asks why she ended their relationship so abruptly. Celia reveals that she saw a call on Henry's cellphone from the same Iranian number that she had found in the station phone logs. It is revealed that when the terrorists' demands were not met, they released sarin gas, killing themselves, the crew, and all passengers. The Vienna station is devastated by the outcome. Realizing that Henry was the leak, she left him but did not divulge her discovery to the CIA.

She further confesses that, after Henry contacted her to arrange this meeting, she contacted Karl Stein, and he arranged the meeting place, the staff, and fake customers, with the aim of poisoning Henry via his wine.

As Henry begins to succumb to the poison, Celia tearfully asks why he betrayed everyone to the terrorists. He explains that he was lured into a meeting with Ilyas, who had become radicalized and masterminded the hijacking. Ilyas' people staged the meeting between Mohammed and Celia to create the impression that Celia's life was in danger. This pushed Henry into revealing the plan for an undercarriage assault, and then the presence of Ahmed on the plane, in exchange for her life.

Henry comes to terms with his impending death, and Celia returns home to her husband and children. Karl calls Vick to report that Henry has died, revealing that they had been working together the entire time.