First Trailer For Robert Redford's THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

Robert Redford doesn't work a whole lot any more, neither in front of the camera - his last acting role was in 2007's Lions for Lambs - or behind it, and so any time Redford steps up as either actor or director that immediately becomes news. Particularly if he happens to be doing both, as he is in new political thriller The Company You Keep. The question with Redford isn't whether he retains his star power - he always will - but whether he can keep in step with the times and turn out work relevant and engaging to younger generations. And that question is significantly more difficult to answer.

Premiering in Venice before moving on to Toronto, The Company You Keep certainly has the attention of the industry but something just doesn't seem to click with the freshly released trailer. The easy out is to blame it on Shia LeBeouf but there's something else going on here, I think, something that's keeping the thriller from thrilling. It may, of course, just be the edit of the trailer and not an issue with the film at all. Time will tell. Here's how TIFF describes the story:

Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a civil rights lawyer and single father, must go on the run when a brash young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) exposes his true identity as a former 1970s radical fugitive wanted for murder. Sparking a nationwide manhunt, Grant sets off on a cross-country journey to clear his name. Also starring Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Nick Nolte.