Film Review:- "Spy - Susan Cooper Undercover"
THIS was a film we expected to be on the hit list for 1 or 2 stars, but instead it narrowly missed out on 5 out of 5 stars, getting 4˝ stars from us!
This is the funniest film we've seen in a long time. Sadly
it lost out of the 5 stars due to unnecessary swearing by 2 of the
characters, mostly Rick Ford, played by Jason Statham. We are not
surprised it managed to get UK film classification of:- 15. But thanks to
the strong direction given by director Paul Feig and with good screenplay,
thanks to Paul Feig, it's one fantastic of globetrotting action comedy that
delivers quite a punch to what is often a market that American Films find hard
to succeeded in. It's 2 hours and 2 minuets of fun!
The spoof opens up with credits directly targeting the 007 theme and progresses
to take on many other films within that espionage thriller genre. The makes good
uses of a full cast of well know stars, both English and American. This mix
makes for an extremely amusing script that translates well, even making you jump
at times...
The synopsis for the film is simple. It is all about CIA analyst Susan Cooper
(Melissa McCarthy), who is an overlooked, overweight and despite having solid
field training, she has never been active. She has in fact just work hand in
hand on missions, via sitting in a very strange office at Langley, acting as
external support for the CIA's most dashing agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). Using
high tech equipment and a hidden earpiece, Susan is the guardian angel, who
helps Bradley avoid most danger throughout his and her career. But things are to
go wrong and that opens the door for Susan Cooper to get out of the office and
into the game... Susan wrangles her way into her first undercover assignment to
help capture Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), who is thought to have assassinated her
partner. Boyanov is also believed to be attempting to sell a suitcase nuke on
the black market. It is a big task for a 'secretary' so can she
achieve the mission. It is then, when the 'mission starts', when
hi-jinks really start, as she tracks down arms dealer, with the 'help'
of Nancy, played by Miranda Hart and also Bradley Fine, played by Jude Law, all
sorts of strange things start to happen as she dodges drop a series of banana
peels that are in her path.
This film is the American answer to Rowan Atkinson's "Johnny English", but sadly, it is not quite as good... It's oddly in our view as good as the latest English Spy spoof:- "Kingsman - The Secret Service." So watch this space for "Spy 2" as it is truly a potential franchise to build up, and it has proven audience appeal world wide.
Our film Star Rating:- 4˝ out of 5
