Beirut (2018) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Brad Anderson

Starring:  Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Shea Whigham, Dean Norris, Mark Pellegrino, Idir Chender

Despite the strong acting and a potentially explosive conflict at the heart of Beirut, the spy thriller never fully lifts off.    The film lacks juice, even though it takes place during a tenuous period of early 1980s Lebanon, in which a cease-fire between the PLO, Israel, and various Lebanese forces was threatened to be broken at any time.    As Beirut opens, we meet diplomat Mason Skiles (Hamm), who lives quite comfortably in the hills of Lebanon with his loving wife and soon-to-be adopted young boy Karim.    He is working the room at a party, explaining Lebanon's situation to his guests.    He likens Lebanon to a hodgepodge of various cultures all tensely living together in an apartment, with the PLO acting as a potential threat knocking at the door wanting to get in.

Sad circumstances involving Karim's family cause at first personal strife with Mason, followed by a violent house invasion by gun-toting terrorists who kill Mason's wife and kidnap Karim.   His blissful life in Beirut quickly falls apart, and we fast forward to ten years later as alcoholic Mason works as a union negotiator in Boston and always has a drink either in hand or within reach.    A shadowy acquaintance from his government days offers him (or more or less enlists) Mason to make a trip to Beirut to ostensibly speak at a seminar, but we know there is a more pressing concern soon to be revealed.

Mason is asked upon his arrival in Beirut to act as a hostage negotiator after a former friend and fellow diplomat is kidnapped by local terrorists.    This turns out to be trickier dilemma than first anticipated, because the terrorist group is predictably led by the now-grown Karim, who wants Mason to facilitate a swap between the diplomat and Karim's brother who may have been captured by Israeli forces, or maybe not.    Mason's superiors are not opposed to allowing Israel to invade Lebanon, break the cease fire, and expel the PLO from the area.   

The Beirut of the early 1980's is but a shadow of what it was ten years prior.    Whole cities are reduced to shells of once tall buildings and rubble.    The aftermath of a long civil war was still being felt and Lebanon was a country in crisis and torn apart by forces from within and its Middle Eastern neighbors.    It was like a neutral field for the game between Israel and the PLO, with Mason and fellow like-minded agents dangerously negotiating the territory to free their fellow American. 

So, why did I not care more?   The elements were in place for a tense thriller, but Beirut never fully engages.   The film misses an opportunity to explore deeper into the relationship between Mason and Karim.    We see Karim look forlorn on occasion due to internal conflicts, but the movie doesn't delve further into these conflicts.    The performances are on the mark and set things up nicely for a knockout punch that never comes.   Maybe it's because the ending is preordained and, despite the backdrop, we don't sense the characters are in any serious danger even though they should be.   After everything plays out, the characters act glibly as if they had just skydived and not dealt with what could have been a disastrous international situation.