Rendition, the movie

They copped out in Rendition, by having a light-skinned, Dutch/Egyptian actor, Omar Metwally, play the lead character. The character he's playing has been in the States since he was a teenager and speaks fluent, accent less English. I guess the director thought that we would not have empathy for an actor with darker skin and an accent. In fact the actor who plays the lead, is not a very good actor. Jake Gyllenhaal out acts rings around him.

Since they were going for the non-Arab look, they might as well have just had Jake play the Egyptian, who gets snapped up by the CIA after a small bombing which kills an agent.

The actors who played the Egyptians looked to be, as usual, from various Muslim countries. This creates an odd looking film. The back story about the Egyptian policeman/torturer's daughter was also strange and unnecessary and filmed in such a way that it looked unrealistic.

Meryl Streep was good as the CIA head, but as usual, they fell to stereotyping by having her use a southern accent.

The movie didn't suck, but it played like a TV movie of the week. It could have been a lot better.