Have you ever walked out of a movie and questioned what you had just watched? Maybe the plot was overly complicated, like the last few Transformers movies, where, for some reason filmmakers think they have to throw eight different plots at you and have them all connect. Perhaps the narrative is just going to continuously divert itself multiple times, forgetting what it was attempting to say in the first place, as if your eyes are seeing some cinematic form of amnesia. Or maybe the movie has a firm foundation and then, somehow, in the last act, it completely falls apart. Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four (or Fan4stic) is a terrific example. The movie does a truly great job at establishing its characters and narrative. Yet it rushes the entire third act and undermines its antagonist.
Then you have movies that fall under the “Camp” category of film - films that are so absurd, terrible in quality, but yet somehow have found their niche. Movies that fall in line with this might not have the easiest of narratives to follow or have the best acting. Two examples of this, without a doubt, would be The Room and Showgirls. The king and queen of the cult classics. These movies are ripe with terrible and over acting and messy plots and yet, there is something about them that keeps us coming back. Perhaps, the third category would be those that make you really have to pay attention, though no matter how much you pay attention, you still somehow feel stupid afterwards. These movies are fun to theorize and fixate on. Recently, we’ve seen this brand of cinema with Tenet and I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
Both of these warrant multiple viewings to understand the artistry the directors poured into such pictures. Infidel is not one of these movies - heck, it won’t even wind up in the category with Showgirls. Infidel tells the story of Doug Rawlins (Jim Cavizel), an American blogger, who accepts an opportunity to speak in Cairo - only to find himself a prisoner. This movie is riddled with contradictions throughout. When Cavizel accepts the offer to speak in Cairo, he is going to speak at a convention. When we see him, only six to seven minutes later, he is in front of a studio audience the size of Saturday Night Live’s opening monologue crowd. He is recording a talk show interview. Later, during a decently sized plot point, one of the characters takes a picture of another character. Not that big of a deal, right? The picture was taken horizontally; only to be shown throughout the rest of the movie vertically.
There are several scenes where the camera struggles to focus. It’s painfully obvious. One scene, in particular, shows two characters talking. One character is in focus, the other is not. It’s like the equivalent of watching a 4K remaster side by side with a VHS. Even the narrative is a contradiction. The final version of the film feels like the director, Cyrus Nowrasteh, had this idea to do a movie on Christian persecution in the East. Then, somewhere along the way, he decided he wanted to do a spy thriller a la Argo. It is a mess to say the least. Perhaps the only redeemable thing about the movie comes from the performance of our antagonist, Ramzi, played by Hal Ozsan. Ozsan walks the line between sinister and charismatic with disturbing ease, the perfect balance viewers look for in a villain. I honestly wish they would have stuck with the former plot, simply to get more screen time from Ozsan.
Overall, Infidel is an infinite mess. Whether it comes from its two-dimensional characters or inconsistent continuity - Infidel is like a two hour version of Nickelodeon’s famous slime. The plot chases after two separate narratives, attempting to unite them in the end, ultimately failing in every facet along the way. The only, and I mean only, redeemable part of this movie is the sinister Hal Ozsan. Ozsan manages to rise above the insane tragedy of a film and bring something good out of it. Infidel reaches for Hollywood action but instead finds comically tragic.
RORSCHACH RATING:
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Infidel is property of Cloudburst Entertainment. We do not own nor claim any rights. This review was edited by Cam Smith. Infidel is now playing in theaters.
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