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Starring: Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Jonathan Pryce, Laurence Fishburne, Gala Gordon, Corey Johnson, Colin Stinton, Ahd Kamel, David Bedella
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Amazon Prime espionage thriller directed by Janus Metz Pedersen. All the Old Knives (2022) follows Henry (Chris Pine) as he investigates Celia (Thandiwe Newton), a past flame from their days as CIA intelligence officers in Vienna, who is now under suspicion of having been a double agent. The story peels back the layers of their past romance and exposes the truth behind a devastating terrorist attack they were unable to stop.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'It's the things that we don't know that get to me.' - Celia Harrison (All the Old Knives) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Vick Wallinger: They’ve opened the books on Flight 127 back at Langley.
Henry Pelham: No one wants to open that can of worms. Not after eight years.
Vick Wallinger: Headquarters feels differently.
Henry Pelham: We’ve done this already. What went wrong, what could we have done better. We’ve been blaming ourselves ever since.
Vick Wallinger: [referring to Shishani] He said the hijackers had help from inside our station here in Vienna.
Henry Pelham: We believe him?
Vick Wallinger: Headquarters believes him. That’s the only thing that matters.
Vick Wallinger: We need to close the books on Flight 127 once and for all. Find out if we had a mole in our station.
Vick Wallinger: And if it’s her, you still carrying the torch for Celia Harrison?
Henry Pelham: It’s Celia Favreau now. Husband and two kids. Besides, no torch burns eight years, not without oxygen.
Vick Wallinger: Think she’ll even talk to you? We could send Mack to California.
Henry Pelham: He won’t know if she’s lying.
Vick Wallinger: Will you?
Henry Pelham: Isn’t that why you’re sending me?
Henry Pelham: So, if it does turn out to be true, what do you want me to do?
Vick Wallinger: We can’t afford the embarrassment of a prosecution. I need to know the man I send can do what’s necessary.
Henry Pelham: You going to say it?
Vick Wallinger: No, Henry, I’m not.
Henry Pelham: [over phone] We still on?
Treble: Carmel-by-the-Sea. I’m here.
Henry Pelham: There’s a chance it won’t be necessary.
Treble: I’ll clear it with you beforehand. All you have to do is say yes or no.
Celia Harrison: It’s been a long time.
Henry Pelham: It has.
Celia Harrison: You got gray.
Henry Pelham: I did.
Celia Harrison: It looks good.
Henry Pelham: You loo exactly the same.
Henry Pelham: You’ve done it. You left everything behind.
Celia Harrison: Yeah. This is not Vienna.
Henry Pelham: I’ve noticed.
Henry Pelham: To old friends.
Celia Harrison: Oh. You can do better than that.
Henry Pelham: Okay. To old lovers.
Henry Pelham: Vick has me looking into Flight 127.
Celia Harrison: Why?
Henry Pelham: Too many inconsistencies.
Celia Harrison: So this is an interview.
Henry Pelham: I was in Santa Clara, and driving down was… I wanted to see you. But I also have to close the book on this.
Celia Harrison: I thought you were here to see if we still had that old spark.
Henry Pelham: Ilyas died before we could get a name. And now there’s an analyst at headquarters that wants to ride the lie, thinks we have some soul searching to do.
Celia Harrison: We did some pretty serious soul searching back then.
Henry Pelham: December 2012. Paint me Celia’s picture.
Celia Harrison: How far back?
Henry Pelham: Just tell me the basic stuff. What happened that day, what you remember about the station back then. We can work our way up to 127.
Henry Pelham: What was Vienna?
Celia Harrison: It was the ultimate high. We collected secrets, sometimes from the highest echelons of government.
Celia Harrison: I was living the dream. I had a boss I adored, knew I was making a difference. And I had you.
Henry Pelham: And then you left.
Celia Harrison: Then Flight 127 happened.
Henry Pelham: Well, you got out clean.
Celia Harrison: No one got out clean after 127.
Henry Pelham: No, you’re right.
Henry Pelham: You seem better now.
Celia Harrison: Evan cured me. Kids change everything.
Henry Pelham: Maybe I should have one.
Celia Harrison: It’s not for the faint of heart.
Henry Pelham: You think I’m too selfish.
Celia Harrison: Definitely.
Henry Pelham: You know, I get the feeling you’re trying to educate me about something. I’m just not sure about the subject.
Mohammed Dudayev: [flashback, to Celia] We need power. Power comes from money. When a man cannot get money power, he will then reach for violent power.
Henry Pelham: [flashback, to Celia] It’s so simple, when you cut through all the lies and the doublespeak, but we take care of our own. All those strangers, they’re not us. This is us. I only ever want to be responsible for you.
Henry Pelham: [flashback] You know, I’ve been thinking. Move in with me. I know what kind of people we are. I know we hold off, and we’re careful. We wall ourselves off, but I won’t lose this. I can’t. I love you. Do you love me?
Celia Harrison: Yeah.
Henry Pelham: What are you saying? I’m sorry, are you accusing me? Do you know how many years of my life I’ve given to my country? The lies, the duplicity?
Bill Compton: We all gave. Nobody forced you.
Henry Pelham: Yeah, well, you just take a look at your future, huh? This is what you end up with.
Bill Compton: My balls are still firmly attached.
Bill Compton: How dare you accuse me?
Henry Pelham: Bill, when I accuse you of collaborating with America’s enemies, you’ll know it. There’ll be two big guys behind you holding on to your arms, and we won’t be in a f***ing pub. We’ll be in a Romanian basement.
Henry Pelham: Afterwards, when headquarters sent counterespionage, how did you explain it all to them?
Bill Compton: I didn’t.
Henry Pelham: No?
Bill Compton: No. Well, there was no point. It was done. We’d failed. If we started shouting “mole”, that would’ve been it for all of us.
Henry Pelham: It boggles the mind that someone so immersed in clandestine affairs would make a call from his own office phone, but stupidity runs international relations as much as anything else.
Bill Compton: You’re looking for a scapegoat. Anyone could’ve used my phone. I mean, you could’ve used it yourself.
Henry Pelham: Let’s not play the name game, Bill. We don’t do that. It’s beneath us. We look at the evidence. We follow the facts. Only two people had access to your office phone, so don’t f*** around with me. You do not want to end up on the wrong side of my investigation.
Celia Harrison: And what about you?
Henry Pelham: Vick cleared me.
Celia Harrison: Really?
Henry Pelham: Look, I don’t want to do this any more than you do.
Celia Harrison: It’s the things that we don’t know that get to me. What happened inside that plane? I can’t let it go. And what if I’d been one of the passengers? Would I have fought back? And with Ginny and Evan, the nightmares have become unbearable. In my dream, I’m paralyzed. Grasping onto the hope that if I do everything that they say, everything’s going to be alright.
Henry Pelham: There’s one thing I can’t figure out about that night. We’re at the station. We’re going to move in together. You look at the phone logs, Ahmed dies, and then you come home to me.
Henry Pelham: [we see in flashback they make love] The next morning, you left me. What we had was real. Wasn’t it?
Celia Harrison: I thought so.
Henry Pelham: Why did you run?
Celia Harrison: I think I preferred this being an interrogation.
Henry Pelham: Well, you’ve convinced me.
Celia Harrison: Of what?
Henry Pelham: That you’re very convincing.
'Power comes from money. When a man cannot get money power, he will then reach for violent power.' - Mohammed Dudayev (All the Old Knives) Click To Tweet
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