The kaleidoscopic designs at the start of "Traitor" hint at the complexities to come. In this international thriller, it's not easy to sort out heroes from villains, or to know if faith is saving or destroying the world.

The ambiguity begins with the lead role of Samir Horn. Luckily, Samir is portrayed by Don Cheadle, who brings gravitas and humanity to a character that could be misunderstood at best and hated at worst. A former U.S. operative, Samir is selling explosive devices to terrorists in Yemen when he gets thrown in prison.

While there, chess and a devotion to Islam bonds Samir, Sudan-born and American-bred, with Omar (Said Taghmaoui), a Moroccan who believes violence is the best way to right wrongs. Their exchanges in the film reveal their similarities and differences as practicing Muslims.

In a parallel universe, FBI agents Roy Clayton and Max Archer (Neal McDonough) pinpoint Samir as the link to several terrorist bombings. Aussie Guy Pearce ("L.A. Confidential") plays Clayton, the modern-day Arabic-speaking agent, with another spot-on American accent, this time with a Southern touch. If anyone has a working moral compass, it's Clayton - he informs us that there are good Muslims among the bad and Western religions are no less fallible.

Unfortunately, these pronouncements seem designed to assuage the filmmakers' conscience for stereotyping Muslims and pandering to many Americans' fear that terrorists lurk around every corner.

As Samir and Omar help plan well-funded terrorist plots, they travel Europe, the Middle East and North America with scary ease. They work under Fareed, portrayed with a suave veneer over steely menace by Bollywood actor Aly Khan.

"The truth is complicated," Samir says, and the same goes for the movie. Handling such an intricate plot with sensitive political and religious threads was too tall an order for first-time director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. He also wrote the script (based on an idea from Steve Martin). But if the goal was a thinking person's action film, more thought was required.

To his credit, Nachmanoff avoids the current trend of stylized torture and gratuitous violence in this genre; he provides some surprising twists near the film's end. Whether by luck or foresight, Nachmanoff has extremely capable artists around him who compensate for the movie's faults.

Cinematographer J. Michael Muro ("Crash") has a keen eye for people in their element. Ultimately, though, it's the actors that make "Traitor" work. Even smaller roles, notably those of Jeff Daniels and Archie Panjabi, boast emotion and finesse. Pearce and McDonough's FBI agents provide a welcome light touch in their partnership.

As an actor and producer, Cheadle's accomplishments are remarkable. Oscar-nominated for his lead role in "Hotel Rwanda," he has brilliantly inhabited a wide range of characters from the frustrated L.A. detective in "Crash" to the brash radio personality in "Talk to Me." His Samir is an outwardly reserved bundle of faith, conflict and anguish. He and the excellent French actor Taghmaoui are riveting together, and they help make this improbable, and sometimes dubious, story believable.

"Traitor." Rated: PG-13. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes. 3 stars

To find out more about Beth Wood and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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