By Steve Crum

Does All the Old Knives make the cut? Like a dull edged butter knife, the answer is no. 

Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton star as long time CIA operatives who face conflicts aplenty when an eight year-old terrorist case is reopened. Both agents are at risk.

Based on the like named novel by Alan Steinhauer, who also penned the screenplay, All the Old Knives is directed by James Metz Pederson (an episode of TV’s True Detective). Prepare yourself for long stretches of mundane dialogue spoken in near whispers. 

No wonder that when the 101-minute movie reached 50 minutes, I literally jumped a bit when Henry Pelham (Pine) slammed down some papers onto a desk. On the plus side, it kept me from dozing off. 

To recap the plot basics, CIA boss Vick Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne) assigns Agent Pelham to investigate former fellow Agents Celia Harrison (Newton) and a handful of others as being the mole who cooperated with terrorists who hijacked a packed Turkish airplane. Subsequently, everyone aboard was killed. To complicate matters, Celia (now retired) once had a romantic relationship with Henry. 

From this point on, All the Old Knives is a structural challenge to comprehend. Flashbacks, and even flashbacks within flashbacks, are generously utilized. Red herrings are everywhere, as if we really, really care. Better pacing and editing would be improvements. If only.

On location cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen is fine—when the film stops lingering on dark night sequences. In short, Knives drones along. 

Explaining the meaning of the All the Old Knives title, Steinhauer says his inspiration was through the 1st Century Macedonian fabulist, Phaedrus: “All the old knives that have rusted in my back, I drive in yours.” 

Right, that explains…nothing. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: D