Secret in Their Eyes

A remake of Juan Jose Campanella's 2009 Oscar-winning, Buenos Aires-based crime thriller, Secret in Their Eyes stars Julia Roberts as Jess Cobb, a grungy, grief-stricken investigator for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. “You look a million years old,” says her observant boss, impeccably elegant Claire Sloan (Nicole Kidman). Back in 2002, Jess's teenage daughter was brutally raped and murdered, her body found in a dumpster near the local mosque, but the suspected killer, Marzin (Joe Cole), was never brought to justice. Determined to track him down, Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an empathetic, former FBI terrorism expert, has doggedly pursued each and every lead for 13 years. An obsessive vigilante, Kasten is accompanied by his colleague Bumpy (Dean Norris). Adapted and directed by Billy Ray and featuring cinematography by Roberts's husband Danny Moder, this recycled police procedural suffers from problematic characters and too many contrived coincidences, confusingly veering back-and-forth between 2002 and 2015. Tepid and forgettable, it's a pulpy, inferior imitation of its Argentinean predecessor. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Billy Ray and producer Mark Johnson, the behind-the-scenes segments “Julia Roberts Discusses Her Most Challenging Role” (4 min.) and “Adapting the Story for Today's World” (2 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing remake.] (S. Granger)