Tense political thriller spanning two continents. Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a CIA analyst working in North Africa, starts to question his assignment when he witnesses the brutal interrogation of an Egyptian-American by secret North African police. When Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwalley), an Egyptian-American chemical engineer whose family emigrated to the United States when he was a boy, is suspected of a terrorist act, his pregnant wife, Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon), does everything she can to find him when he seemingly disappears during a flight from South Africa to Washington, D.C. She enlists the help of an old college friend, Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard), an aide to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), who uncovers the shocking fact that Anwar has been shipped off to a third-world country for interrogation on the orders of Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep), the CIA's head of the anti-terrorism unit. Isabella and Douglas team up to try to secure Anwar's release from a secret detention facility somewhere in the Middle East.  A politically-charged, compelling drama, Rendition sees director Gavin Hood follow up the extraordinary, Oscar-winning Tsotsi with another challenging, quality piece of cinema. This time, his attention focuses on the story of a man who is kidnapped, and shipped off to be imprisoned abroad. The reason? Suspected terrorism. And his wife has no idea where he is and what's happened. In lesser hands, Rendition could have really struggled to make its mark, but Hood very much knows what he's doing, and his film is excellent, right up to--and including--its final reel. His cast help him immensely, with Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep offering terrific support to the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal. Rendition does have some problems. Its pace sometimes wavers a little, some of the roles are slighter than you'd like, and sometimes the American-based elements pull the film back. But these are minor gripes that seem unfair to level at an ambitious drama, that is fearless about addressing issues of morality. Tightly woven on the whole, and sticking in your head long after the end credits have rolled, Rendition is intelligent film-making, that pulls very few punches. Those after an action feast are clearly advised to head in the other direction; those looking for a film to engage the brain are very much welcome, and set to be richly rewarded. --Jon Foster