I wanted to keep the good-movie-ball rolling with another Le Carre film adaptation, The Constant Gardner. This is one that I missed in theaters and have always been meaning to circle back and watch. It’s a well-made film. Ralph Fiennes performance is excellent as usual but Rachel Weisz is the real star of this film. Her work here is really strong and saves much of the film from slowing to an unbearable pace.

But for all that good, I still didn’t love this. I found myself bored for much of the running time. The plot that revolves around evil pharmaceutical companies is so obvious, every “bad guy” is so apparent, that the only mystery is wondering why the main characters don’t figure things out sooner. It kills much of the tension that a better script could have maintained. So I’d say only watch this if you are a Ray Fiennes fan, want to see a strong female performance by Rachel Weisz, or love the poorest parts of Africa where most of this film is shot.