With
big name actors like Robert Redford and Brad
Pitt,
Director Tony Scott was on a winner,
or was he? With the bombings in America some
might feel this film strikes close to home as the
film has CIA operative Nathan Muir (Redford) is on
the brink of retirement only finding his old friend
is in trouble and that he has been roped into
it. I went in with good intentions, Brad Pitt and Robert Redford make an
fantastic partnership, so I though this was going to
be a good film. This normally makes the film
flop as you have the exportation that do not get for
filled. In this case, sorry for the bad
pun, the film reminded me of a old British film
called "Hopscotch", but with a totally
different approach and with more action and
twists. Very interactive film this one, as you
feel your self dawn into the "game" that writer
Michael Beckner creates for you. O' keep
a count if you can of the wives in this story, if
you can. With a tagline:- "It's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you."
as the tagline, it could be used to describe the
plot. This is not a normal American Spy Film,
but one that is well matured
and keeps
you guessing from one moment to the next, but this
does drag out at times with some of the sub-plots
taking up to much time. With violence and brief sexuality,
the film got given a 15 certification, that was well
deserved. I don't think many kids would like
this film any way as it is so complex a plot.
I think Tony Scott has taken notes from "Blade
Runner" and "Apocalypse Now" in
places. As the old saying goes "If you like
the title, we also recommend it". Put
your film comments on the record and use our chat.
Voices, first credits only:- Robert Redford
as Nathan Muir, Brad Pitt as Tom Bishop, Catherine McCormack
as Elizabeth Hadley, Stephen Dillane as Charles Harker,
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Gladys Jennip, Larry Bryggman
as Troy Folger, Zoltán Benkóczy, Ian Boo Khoo as Chinese Prisoner,
Ágnes Bánfalvy, Omid Djalili, Freddie Joe Farnsworth
as Marine Radio Man, David Frankel, Barbara Hegyi, Ken Leung,
Pál Oberfrank, Andrea Osvárt as Cousin of Muir, Kimberly Paige
as Mrs. Muir, Athina Papadimitriu, Ian Porter as CNN Anchorman,
Károly Rékasi, András Stohl and Tibor Szervéth
Film Review by Patrick Trollope.
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