This film is proof that an excellent cast cannot rise above inferior scriptwriting, directing and editing. Most scenes of this movie struggle against a script that sacrifices character development to the conveying of information. Mercifully, this is most blatant in the first 10 minutes of the movie in which choppy editing jerks the audience from scene to scene in a series of pogo jumps that instruct us on the childhood aspirations and early professional career of the protagonist, Gerald Bull. The ticker tape of facts continues through what must be the most leaden performance of Kevin Spacey's filmography, as he intones yet more information needed to convince the viewer that this is surely a very exciting film. Add to this the director's dispiriting decisions to have Arab characters speak to each other in English, and to have pivotal moments preceded far in advance by crescendos from the orchestra, and we can only be thankful that the flim provides, at the very least, a useful history lesson.