This is not the sparkling Julia Roberts of “Pretty Woman” or the sexed up one in “Erin Brockovich” but a completely bare of make-up, stripped of all emotions except of love for her daughter, that when someone says she “..looks a million years old” you can believe it. Aside from her looks Roberts is at the top of her acting game being effective in quick scenes consisting of just a glance or longer scenes that require her eyes tell the secrets they are holding.

As it is “Secret In Their Eyes” stands up as a solid crime genre but has a twist that I didn’t see coming until after an hour and thirty minutes into the hour and 50 minutes of the film! It is worth seeing this movie to test your ability on guessing what is going to come.

Co-starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, as an FBI agent who is working a counterterrorism case with Roberts’ DA investigator, shares the burden of carrying the moral tone of the film. He, also, has a love affair that isn’t--go see the movie--with Nicole Kidman who will become a district attorney. We meet the three a few months after 9/11 when Robert’s daughter is found murdered and the films goes back and forth between then and 13 years later which is handled smoothly as you can tell the difference in the faces of Ejiofor and Roberts and the aftermath of the daughter’s death plus look for the gray in the former’s hair!

Alfred Molina who is in charge of the terrorism task force does not allow evidence to convict Joe Cole who is the murderer but, in politics, is more important as an informant of a mosque close to where Zoe Graham, the daughter, has been raped and killed. Thirteen years later Kidman presented with a new reason to open the case also passes for political reasons. Through the years, Michael Kelly, as a surely co-worker and Dean Norris as another investigator and friend of Ejiofor and Roberts, both give strong support.

The director and screenwriter, Billy Ray, has to be held responsible for the non-romance between Kidman and Ejiofer, giving her a one note performance that has nothing to do with the film. Ray does a journeyman job and handles the mandatory foot chase and action scenes pacing the lower key scenes enough to hold the audience’s interest. 

Daniel Moder, the cinematographer, and husband of Julia Roberts, doesn’t hold back on filming the ‘million year old’ woman!

“Secret In Their Eyes” is a good mystery with a twist very few people will see coming unless they are familiar with the Oscar winning Argentine film “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” which it is based on.

A SECRET IN THE EYES OFFICIAL TRAILER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3b0PFCrayE