“I’m a good little soldier.”
Classified, from director Roel Reiné, is a story of loyalty and betrayal as a man discovers that what he thought was working for his country turns out to be a lie.
Evan Shaw (Aaron Eckhart) has been a CIA hitman for decades. He lives a solitary life, traveling the globe as directed from coded messages in newspaper classified ads. He does his work and moves on. He has no idea why his targets need to be killed, but he assumes they are bad guys.
When he arrives in Rome, he is confronted by a young woman, Kayce Walker (Abigail Breslin) who works for British intelligence MI-6. She tells him that his CIA handler, Kevin Angler (Tim Roth), is dead and has been for several years. So, who is giving him his orders? Of course, he’s not going to believe her right away, but soon is convinced and they head off to Malta to search for answers.
The Powers-That-Be discover that Shaw has gone off mission and have a small mercenary group waiting for him. Thus begins the action part of the movie as he takes on the assailants that shoot as well as Star Wars storm troopers. Throw in some twists and a couple of reveals and you have a serviceable action thriller.
That is not to say there isn’t a lot to pick at in the film. I’ll refrain from that here because (a) I did enjoy the film, and (b) poking at things with friends in MST3K style may add to the enjoyment.
However, I do like the concept of the film. I like the idea that the things we believe may not in fact be true. Shaw has built his life around what he thought was doing something good for the world and for his country. But somewhere along the line things changed. The whole foundation of his life suddenly crumbles away. How does he rebuild who he believes himself to be?
While not as dramatic as this story, such shifting foundations happen in our lives as well. It could be when politician lie and shift allegiances. It could be within a marriage when we discover things about a spouse. It could involve our faith when we learn that what we’ve been taught may not be sound. How do we take that new knowledge and move forward to live and work in a new light?
Classified is available to rent digitally.
Photos courtesy of Saban Films and Sony Pictures.
