As a thriller, The Debt performs many if not all the right moves. The suspense builds nicely, the twists come as surprises and its key characters are vivid enough. Where the John Madden-directed film gets into trouble is in wanting to deal with the Holocaust without being entirely a period film. About half of the story takes place in 1997, but if you do the math, its Dr. Mengele-like Nazi villain would be positively ancient. Indeed, the climatic sequence must take place in a hospital for dementia, which is not where you want a thriller to end up. It's almost funny.