Infidel is an action adventure set in the Middle East, based on a true story. When an American is mistaken for a spy and kidnapped, the US government abandons him. When his wife puts herself in danger to save him, she may just be putting a target on her own back, as well.
An American Christian blogger, Doug (Jim Caviezel), and his wife Liz (Claudia Karvan) go to their Muslim family friends Soheila and Javid's (Hal Ozsan) house to help them out after their daughter goes missing. But when a distraught Liz calls for the police's help, they come over to the house and discover what appears to be a terrorist hub in Javid's basement. Liz and Doug must then reevaluate how well they know their friends.
Javid invites Doug to Cairo to speak about his faith, in person. Doug decides to go, despite his wife's pleas not to, as she believes this to be a terrible idea. Once in Cairo, Doug openly professes his Christian beliefs on national television, which are in stark contrast to the beliefs of many in that region, but more than that, he's actually mistaken for a US spy by a terrorist group. He is abducted while on the phone with his wife, and there is nothing that the US government is going to do about it, due to the tenuous relations between the Middle Eastern nations and the USA.
Liz, who works for the US State Department, is aghast that nothing is being done to help her husband. She can't even pull any strings by asking friends for favors. Taking matters into her own hands, she heads over to the Middle East, where she learns that Doug has been transported elsewhere, making it even harder for her to prove his innocence and save his life in time. Without Liz, Doug stands no chance, and is sure to die. But by getting involved, Liz could jeopardize both of their lives in her efforts to save him.
Written and directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M., The Day Reagan Was Shot) there is a masterful performance that he has orchestrated among the cast. It's not just believable because it's a true story, but because the chemistry among the players is undeniably solid, and each performer is directed with a competent hand.
What he lacks in subtlety, intrigue, or depth, Nowrasteh more than makes up for by pushing everything in one direction, with incredible inertia. The story starts with a bang, loops around to show the sweet characters we should care about, and then keeps them in harm's way in increasingly precarious situations. Danger is around every foreign corner, and there's no help in sight.
Ultimately, Infidel is a role reversal of the film Taken, where this time a wife hears her husband getting kidnapped in the middle of their phone conversation and needs to come track him down to save his life. It plays out quickly and cleverly for an action film, despite its obvious tropes. Fine performances and action-packed scenes leap off the screen to create a mélange of a cinematic thriller.