The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Borrowing heavily from other, better conspiracy thrillers out there, The Expatriate – otherwise known as Erased ­– comes at you with a torrential flow of familiarity and foreseeable storytelling.

Set in Antwerp, Belgium, The Expatriate is centred on Ben Logan (Eckhart); an American expatriate and ex-CIA agent who is working as a leading specialist at one of the most renowned security companies in Europe. His daughter, Amy (Liberato), has recently moved over from the States and Ben – who is now pretty happy with his life abroad – is doing his best in trying to mend the relationship between him and his estranged offspring.

Things soon take a bizarre turn when Ben discovers that the company he has been working for has literally disappeared; desks have been emptied, shelves cleared and there are no signs of anyone, anywhere. But that’s not the only weird thing; his identity, along with his bank records and any other remaining proof of his employment at the firm, has also been erased.  

With the intention of getting to the bottom of things and getting his identity back, Ben sets off on a cat-and-mouse chase around the city. With Amy in tow, Ben needs to stay under the radar and away from the watchful eye of the CIA special-agent, Anna Brandt (Kurylenko); an operative with her own agenda, who has flown in to deal with the situation – one that is bigger than Ben imagined.

Directed by Phillip Stolzl – who is currently working on I Am Legend 2 – and penned by first-time writer, Arash Amel, it would be unfair to say that The Expatriate is completely awful; its European backdrop ends up giving the story a certain amount of weightiness and the steel-blue palette gives the film a sleek edge. Acceptable and tolerable make a better word-choice here.   

But, that’s as far as the ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ go, as what lies underneath The Expatriate’s cool exterior is a knockoff thriller that fails to bring anything new or even slightly original to the table.  Accompanied by atrocious dialogue and a few rather questionable chase scenes, The Expatriate tries its best to induce the tension and intrigue; although some of its attempts pass the grade, the overall arc of the story just doesn’t work and leaves any film-savvy audience two steps ahead of the game.

In terms of performances, Eckhart is guilty of failing to convey any kind of tension. On the other hand, Liberato – a dead ringer for Jennifer Lawrence – is a delightful surprise, while Kurylenko lacks charm and conviction in her portrayal of a dubious CIA agent.

All in all, The Expatriate is tolerable and it does offer a few entertaining moments.  However, its straight-to-DVD quality prevents it from delivering an all-around enjoyable experience.