While he is best known for helping to breathe new life into the Star Wars universe by helping to rewrite Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and delivering the universe’s best show ever with Andor, Tony Gilroy has been making terrific genre entertainment in the industry for well over two decades. In addition to earning several Academy Award nominations for his brilliant directorial debut, Michael Clayton, Gilroy was also essential in mapping out the story of the Bourne franchise. Although his contributions to the galaxy far, far away have given him a greater audience than he ever would have had previously, he does have some underrated films that are worth another look from those that are obsessed with Andor. Gilroy wrote a terrific, old-fashioned political thriller with Beirut, which featured Jon Hamm in what may be his best performance since playing Don Draper on Mad Men.
What Is ‘Beirut’ About?
Hamm stars in Beirut as the retired American diplomat Mason Skiles, who decided to give up serving his company after his wife was killed in a violent incident overseas. Although he has now begun to suffer from severe alcoholism and depression due to the way that his life has panned out, Skiles is approached by members of the American government who ask for his participation in an academic conference in Lebanon. Once he is overseas, Skiles realizes that he was brought for an entirely different purpose; his old ally, Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino), has been abducted by a group of kidnappers that want one of their prisoners freed as part of a deal. Although any mismanaged negotiations with the rebel forces could lead to disastrous consequences for global politics, the CIA field officer Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike) believes that Skiles can help broker an agreement and allow the deal to proceed without any loss of life.
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While it is not based directly on real events, Beirut is a fascinating political thriller that examines an interesting period in history by granting merit to multiple perspectives. Although the film shows that American involvement in an overseas political coup could end up doing more harm than good, it also shows why Riley is treated with such importance and why it is important to not set the precedent that American lives can be given up on. Skiles is an interesting protagonist because despite his experience, he actually doesn’t have a dog in the fight; his only interest is to save a friend, to whom he feels he owes a debt of gratitude to because of the many years that they worked together. Skiles’ political ambiguity isn’t only the perfect justification for why he would be involved in such a top-secret assignment, as it also helps to make him a more interesting protagonist.
‘Beirut’ Shows Why Jon Hamm Is a Movie Star
Hamm is perfectly believable in the role of a seasoned diplomat; in the same way that he made all of Don’s pitch meetings feel completely authentic in Mad Men, Hamm is able to ensure that Skiles feels like he is perfectly attuned to help diffuse any toxic situations when he is forced to negotiate with the Lebanese. Although the film works purely as an exercise in espionage fiction, it also serves as a powerful story about grief and redemption. Skiles feels burned by the world and blames himself for putting duty over saving someone that he cares about; although he is initially resistant to signing up for another dangerous mission within an international conflict, he comes to realize that Riley would easily be killed or injured if he did not become involved in setting him free.
Beirut required some of Hamm’s charisma to make the story more enthralling, as Gilroy never attempts to dilute his material by making it less complicated; while it contains the same level of political intrigue and conspiracy mysteries as the Bourne films, it does not have the same type of action that could intrigue more casual viewers. Nonetheless, Hamm does a great job at showing how Skiles is tested by each situation and what his personal motivations are. Although Mad Men had proven that he was already a wonderful actor, Beirut showed that those skills were equally applicable to his work in film.
