A word of caution. It took three viewings of 'A Most Wanted Man' for me to understand and fully appreciate the film. It's the film adaptation of the John LeCarre spy novel and, like many of his stories, it's many layered, many charactered. In short, very complicated, to say the least.

Here's the story. There are two events being monitored by a team of German Intelligence Agents in present day Hamburg, a team led by Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Gunther. (1) An Arab doctor living in Hamburg may be sending money to a terrorist organization; money given to the doctor supposedly for charitable purposes. (2) A young Chechyn man has come to Hamburg to claim his dead father's fortune; he is Muslim and, as such, has been tortured by the Russians. The German Intelligence agents have devised a way to bring the two men together and somehow halt the money's being forwarded to terrorists.

As this is LeCarre, nothing remains that simple. There are American Agents afoot with their own objectives. There are German Police Officials with plans of their own. There is a naive German Attorney (Rachel McAdams) looking out for the Chechyn's interests, and a banker (Willem DeFoe) who is necessary to bring the two men together.

Hoffman is the heart of the film. His Gunther is a hard drinking, chain smoking, overweight and overwrought loner. He is playing the 'long game'. Rather than rushing in and arresting everyone and anyone who might be related to terrorists, he wants to discover exactly how the money get transferred and to whom. He is looking to take down whoever sits at the very top of the terrorist pyramid.

The question is, Will he? Will he have the time to do it?

That's what the film's about, and it's definitely a worthwhile subject. And a worthwhile viewing.

About Hoffman? A great loss. If you doubt it, I say, see this film.

You are missed sir Philipp Seymour Hoffman. Brilliance in full display in this highly compelling espionage film, A Most Wanted Man. PSF simply dominates his scenes with subtlety, without the need to turn in a stagey, overcompensating effort. In the few scenes that warrants his aggression, you are absorbed by his thoughts, by his reason. He is a TRUE ARTIST. As for the film, suspense and intrigue does not let up as good vs bad takes an unclear shape, form and allegiance. Sreenplay deserves commendation as we are graciously subjected to seemingly REAL events, what actually happens behind closed doors in the world of intelligence. And that ending... 7.5/10 (probably deserves more).

"A Most Wanted Man" has the last great lead role for Philip Seymour Hoffman. The story was compelling to watch and pretty much everybody in here gave at least solid performances. The hardest thing watching this for me was to see his character here, a messed-up agent fighting his inner demons just like his political enemies, and knowing that the actor behind this fine performance was probably in much tougher struggles than his character here.

Anyway, back to the movie, there were some parts where I felt the central character was written just a tad too stereotypical, but thanks to Hoffman's talent, it did not get really bad. Apart from him, there is the little-known Grigoriy Dobrygin playing a major role and the rest of the cast is a mix of Hollywood and German actors. I especially liked Willem Dafoe, who gives the perfect display of a rich man wrong place wrong time and has to go through quite a bit here because of his father, but no chance to really get out of the whole dilemma quickly. Looking at the German actors, Nina Hoss shines as in pretty much everything she is in these days and creates a truly three-dimensional character. Rainer Bock only plays a minor role, but still manages to add a lot to the story. Daniel Brühl is forgettable as in pretty much everything he is in these days.

Directr Anton Corbijn has created a tense spy thriller here, in which you can never be really sure who are the good ones, who are the bad ones. There is no black and white. Thumbs up for him. The genre really could need a healthy addition of quality and quantity these days. Also, the director proves how to successfully transform from a music director (worked with U2, Metallica, Depeche Mode, Bryan Adams) into a great movie director who works with superstars like Hoffman or Clooney. Writer Andrew Bovell adapted "Edge of Darkness" starring Mel Gibson 4 years ago and here we have his take on one of the many John le Carré novels. I recommend this film a lot and it's such a shame the lead actor is gone. He may have had so many more great performances in him. One could have been a prequel to this movie showing us what exactly happened in Beirut. Such a shame.