Film

A Common Man

Name: A Common Man
Genre: Action, Thriller
Released: 2013
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Ben Cross, Patrick Rutnam, James Koch, Numaya Siriwardena

A taut thriller set in Colombo where a mysterious bomber orchestrates a high-stakes hostage crisis, forcing authorities into an impossible negotiation. Ben Kingsley anchors the film as an enigmatic antagonist in a lean, economical story that prioritizes tension over spectacle. It's a compact cat-and-mouse game for viewers who prefer their thrillers smart and claustrophobic.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like lean, tightly wound thrillers where a ticking clock across a whole city and a cool, menacing central performance carry the weight without much backstory.

Skip it if you need characters with deep interiority or a slow build, since this runs a brisk 86 minutes and stays focused on procedure and pressure over personal history.

What it asks of you: Its shape is short and taut, with pressure building steadily for most of its running time, so it wants steady attention rather than a slow settling-in.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Italian Job1969

A cleverly plotted heist where every player has their own agenda and the real game is staying three moves ahead. Kingsley isn't here, but the intricate setup and double-crosses will feel familiar.

But The pacing is slower than modern thrillers, and the ending may feel anticlimactic if you're expecting explosions rather than wit.

Swordfish2001

John Travolta leads a high-concept hostage scenario where the criminal is smarter than everyone in the room and forces the authorities into moral corners. Fast, clever, and built on the same pressure-cooker principle.

But It's slicker and louder than *A Common Man*—less interested in real consequence, more interested in style and spectacle.

Inside Man2006

Denzel Washington and Clive Owen in a bank heist where the negotiation *is* the heist. Dialogue-driven, genuinely suspenseful, and structured around the criminal outsmarting everyone else in real time.

But It takes nearly two hours to tell what *A Common Man* tells in 86 minutes, and some will find it deliberately paced rather than thrilling.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Common Man

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stalker1979

Both films use a high-stakes scenario to force characters into moral reckoning. Both know that the real tension isn't the threat but what the threat reveals about what people actually value.

Andrei Tarkovsky's meditative science-fiction masterpiece: a guide leads two men through a mysterious zone to a room that grants wishes. It's a negotiation film, yes, but one that excavates what people actually want when they're forced to confront it honestly.

But At 163 minutes with minimal plot, it requires the viewer to sit with philosophical questions rather than resolve them. It is not a thriller in any conventional sense.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three1974

A subway train hijacking where the bomber and the negotiator are locked in a battle of wills across phone lines. Utterly grounded, procedural, and genuinely tense without needing to cut corners on plausibility.

But It's deliberately unglamorous and New York-specific in a way that won't appeal to anyone wanting a slick modern thriller.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three poster

Breakdown1997

Kurt Russell as an ordinary man pushed into an extraordinary crisis on the open road, negotiating with an unseen threat. Relentless tension built from simple ingredients—isolation, desperation, and a mysterious voice on the phone.

But It's a vehicle (literally) for one man's suffering, which means limited locations and no relief valve. Some will find it exhausting rather than gripping.

Heat1995

Michael Mann's masterpiece: a criminal and a cop locked in a philosophical and practical struggle, each respecting the other's game. Massive in scope but intimate in its logic—every decision matters.

But At nearly three hours, it's an investment. The action sequences are legendary but the film moves at its own tempo, which some will experience as deliberate rather than thrilling.

The Town2010

Ben Affleck directs and stars in a Boston bank robbery that spirals into a high-stakes game between criminals and cops. Gritty, smart, and structured around the question of whether the criminals or the law will break first.

But It's a heist film masquerading as a thriller, so if you want a tight negotiation story rather than action sequences, this will feel like it takes detours.

Killing Zoe1993

Roger Avary's Paris-set heist gone wrong, where the negotiation between the robbers and an unhinged partner creates genuine, uncomfortable tension. Low-budget intensity that doesn't rely on explosions.

But It's deliberately stylized and somewhat dated in its sensibility. The thriller elements are almost incidental to a character study of people under pressure.

The Hostage Tower1980

A contained negotiation thriller where a bomber and a cop try to outthink each other in real time. Lean, focused, and structured around dialogue and moral questions rather than action set pieces.

But It's extremely low-budget and shot in a way that makes locations feel confined and repetitive. This will feel claustrophobic to some viewers.

Memories of Murder2003

Both films make the audience complicit in the criminal's logic. Both ask what a good person does when institutions fail and the only person telling the truth is the one breaking the law.

Bong Joon-ho's Korean serial killer procedural: two detectives hunt a murderer across a landscape of institutional failure and personal desperation. It's a thriller, but one that cares as much about the investigators' psychological unraveling as the case itself.

But It's in Korean with subtitles, over two hours long, and commits to a deliberately ambiguous ending that will frustrate anyone wanting a clean resolution.

A Prophet2009

Both feature protagonists whose power comes from psychological acuity rather than physical force. Both understand that the most dangerous people are the ones who see three moves ahead and never raise their voice.

Jacques Audiard's French prison drama where a young man learns to survive and then dominate a brutal system from within. It's about power and negotiation at their most visceral—where a single word can determine who lives and dies.

But It's in French, unflinchingly violent, and slower than a typical thriller. It's a prison story first, not an action movie.