The Kite Runner (2007)

Directed by Marc Forster. Starring Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, Atossa Leoni, Saïd Taghmaoui, Shaun Toub, Abdul Salaam Yusofzai, Etham Ehsas, Nabi Tanha, Ali Danish Bakhtyari, Abdul Qadir Farookh. [PG-13]

Adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling debut novel about Afghani immigrant Amir Qadiri (Abdalla), tormented by a guilty conscience for abandoning and disgracing a childhood friend (Mahmoodzada) after witnessing the boy get violently assaulted by bullies. An unpretentious, tasteful, and well-meaning drama, but one that’s also uncertain and unmoving. The three-act structure doesn’t organically cohere, and the third section’s melodrama (and manufactured uplift at the tail end) severely tests credulity as Amir ventures into Taliban-controlled territory to rescue a young boy from the clutches of the now-adult ringleader of the bullies. The title refers to the activity of collecting “defeated” kites in which young Amir and his friend participated, and with apologies to enthusiasts of the “sport,” the extended CGI-heavy kite-fighting sequence is about as exciting as watching elderly retirees play bridge; in fact, no matter the far-flung locales, director Forster employs such muted aesthetics throughout the motion picture that a book on tape starts seeming like a wise alternative. Scripted by David Benioff. The book’s author makes a cameo appearance near the end.

53/100