Mark Reviews Movies: INDEMNITY

Indemnity, Magnet Releasing

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 10, 2022

An appropriate cynicism runs under the surface current of Indemnity, a wrong-man thriller from South Africa. It has a somewhat believable conspiracy subplot and one wicked twist—both of which give writer/director Travis Taute's movie a heavy dose of political and personal pessimism. The effort is mostly defined, though, by a lot of routine plotting and action.

The story revolves around Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld), a firefighter in Cape Town who's on an extended leave, following a deadly blaze that killed several of his comrades and left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. He could return to work after being cleared by a therapist, but Theo has neglected his sessions, turned to alcohol, and put a strain on his marriage to Angela (Nicole Fortuin).

The plot eventually goes into motion when Angela, a journalist, is contacted by Sam (Abduragman Adams), a whistleblower who has uncovered a mysterious list created by an international defense conglomerate. Theo's name is on that list, and of the other people on there whom Sam has researched, most of them have died, disappeared, or been convicted of serious crimes.

In the morning after Angela explains this to her husband, Theo awakens to find her dead. The cops, surely not by coincidence, are already at the door, ready to arrest Theo for his wife's murder.

As for the rest of the plot, it obviously has Theo on the run, evading capture, and trying not to get himself killed. He's pursued by a national police force—specifically a determined detective (played by Gail Mabalane) and a general (Andre Jacobs) who wants to make sure the job is done properly when several cops end up dead—that believes he's guilty. Also trailing him are enigmatic goons, led by a particularly ruthless killer (played by Louw Venter).

We get chase after chase, fight after fight, and shootout after shootout. Taute definitely displays competence and, during a few sequences (such as a close-quarters fight in an elevator and an explosive booby trap), a bit more in the staging of the action. After a while, though, the contrivances of the cops and the henchmen always being just in the right place, only a step behind our protagonist, become almost as ridiculous as the exposition-action pattern of the plot becomes repetitive. The delayed revelation, via sporadic flashbacks, of the tragedy that resulted in Theo's trauma don't provide the character much depth, but Geduld is suitably and convincingly desperate in the role.

The cynical core of the movie is in the background, as we learn more about the defense contractor, its aims, and the terrible lengths to which it's willing to go. There's an added weight from this particular story coming from South Africa, but that's not nearly enough for Indemnity to overcome its devotion to formula.

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