Secret in Their Eyes

A tighter film would see Billy Ray deploy much cleverer and subtler methods than he does in his pursuit of Marzin/Beckwith. However, that is about the only wrong note Secret in their Eyes strikes.

Aside from a few moments of great power – Jess walks into an elevator and straight into her daughter's murderer, who's just been let go – the film feels surprisingly generic. It neither raises the 'creepy' factor to Zodiac levels, nor does it leave you pondering its moral dilemmas the way Prisoners did.

All in all, a fairly gripping tale.

This film is at best serviceable. Nothing exciting or extraordinary about it!

This Hollywood remake of an Argentinian Oscar-winning film comes loaded with expectations. Sluggish pace and some contrived plot points dilute the unsettling moments, like when Jess enters an elevator to see the man accused of murdering her daughter walking free. Secret In Their Eyes does not meet expectations, and, unlike the characters that are unable to forget, the film is disappointingly forgettable.

The strong performances by the leads notwithstanding, the Hollywood remake doesn't quite capture the complexity and thrills of the original. The narrative confusingly cuts back and forth between the past and the present as in the Argentinean film, but the chemistry between the police officer and the lawyer are missing from the English-language version.