seveb-25179

At last a modern action movie that is not fundamentally flawed.

After recent disappointments from Jason Statham and Ryan Gosling, here is a movie that manages to run through one of the "classic" action movie templates without falling flat on its face.

The plot structure is sound (by action movie standards), there is some decent action, some humour, but not so much that it undermines the action, and no plot twists for the sake of plot twists which undermine the whole story, which are the bane of many modern action movies.

Jake Gyllenhaal is an outstanding actor who brings a subtlety that raises the material to a higher level than it probably deserves and all the supporting actors have been well chosen, bringing likeability where that is required and unlike-ability where that is appropriate.

Those who hate Connor McGregor will hate him here, but I LOVE to hate him and I loved to hate him here. He enjoyed playing the villain during his UFC career and he puts on the same act here, while also providing the necessary physical threat to Jake's character (something that was sadly lacking in movies such as the Beekeeper or The Fall Guy).

Don't bother comparing it to the original, which was not exactly considered to be "Shakespeare" either at the time, just enjoy it for what it is. More than one thing can be true and I enjoy both versions.

Despite the name, German Cobos is actually the Spanish James Bond and he appeared in two movies as Agent Z-55, this one and its sequel "Blueprint For A Massacre", as well as a detective in "The Man With The Golden Fist" aka "A Fist Full Of Diamonds"

This is a polished Eurospy, with some decent dialogue and competent action.

Professor MacGuffin has been kidnapped and then rescued, but when the agent (Z-54) involved in the rescue operation is killed, the whereabouts of the prof becomes a mystery for both the good guys and the bad guys. The villains are a private organisation that undertakes criminal activity and the Chinese government, who have hired them to do the kidnapping. The good guys are an American agency who assign agent Z-55 (German) to sort it out.

However the middle section of the story is rather complicated and pointless, with much time wasted while German tries to convince the villains that he himself is a criminal who they could hire to do what he was planning to do anyway. They are onto him from the start and yet decide to play along as they don't know where the professor is either. All German appears to achieve by this ruse is to lead the villains to the professor, so that he effectively has find and rescue him all over again.

The only exotic location is Hong Kong, but it is well used, with lots of great location footage, such as planes landing at the old airport, famous for its runway amongst the apartment buildings, and plenty of action in and around the harbour. Mostly the director does an effective job of disguising any budgetary constraints.

It has a decent spy-style soundtrack, with music matched to the appropriate mood of the onscreen activity.

There's a nice opening action sequence, and later a very good extended car / boat chase. Also plenty of well-planned fisticuffs. The only problem for me was that much of the action occurred at night, which made it hard to actually see and follow what was going on, however that may also have been partly due to the quality of the print I was watching, which was of very substandard quality.

German makes a very suitable secret agent, he has the looks and sufficient acting ability to project confidence and competence, even if his scripted actions sometimes bely that.

Womanising wise, he makes a strong start, putting the moves on Susan Baker, however, just as he gets her on the bed, he is interrupted by the inevitable call from his boss and foolishly says he'll be back in five minutes. However he does manage to bed Maria Luisa Rispoli, plus he earns some "Connery cruelty" points for slapping her around later, in order to obtain information. Then he eventually ends up in the arms of "bad-girl-turned-good" Yoko Tani. As Meat Loaf said, "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad".

The private villains are well led by Gianni Rizzo, the type of sly looking overweight actor who often play big bad bosses in Eurospys and Spaghetti Westerns. Giovanni Cianfriglia makes an effective impression as the main strong-arm / assassin henchman.

On the female side, Leontine Snell plays Gianni's partner / assistant, but gets little to do. Maria Luisa Rispoli has the better role, as the femme fatale, but I found her performance a bit sullen or wooden and it's no wonder she fails to put German off his guard.

The ethnic makeup of the Chinese contingent is rather embarrassing by modern standards, led by English / Indian actor Milton Read, who doesn't look remotely Chinese and Japanese actress Yoko Tani, who is, at least, Asian. The rest of their henchmen are Hong Kong locals and therefore quite authentic.

However, from a purely cinematic viewpoint, Milton Read is hard to beat, he was born to play bad guys, with his shaved head, pock marked face and powerful wrestler's physique (which is exactly what he did when not acting). Such was his screen presence that he usually played a henchman with few, if any, lines of dialogue, as his appearance was self-explanatory, but here he gets to play one of the main protagonists, so this could well be the high point of his movie career. As always, Yoko Tani is suitably coy as the eventual love interest.

Well worth a watch

Bondian banter

(German picks the lock of a hotel room, enters, removes his jacket and tie, undoes his top shirt button, shoots his cuffs and adopts a relaxed position, reclining on the bed...still wearing his shoes though)

Susan - (emerging from the steamy bathroom tying her bath robe) "Oh... you" (as in 'you scallywag')

German - "What I've seen convinces me that it's a good idea to show up for a date a little early" (smirk)

Susan - "But it isn't fair, I'm not even ready"

German - "Hmm... That's were your wrong" (clinch)

Susan - "You're always in such a hurry"

German - "Someone has to break the ice at the party" (clinch)

Susan - "By the way, how did you manage to get in?"

German - "Hmmm... I managed... There are no barriers to true love" (clinch) (Phone rings...)

(In Maria's hotel room)

Maria - "Want a drink?"

German - "Yeah, my throats dry"

(Maria pours him a drink and he takes a swallow)

German - "What's under that negligee...? No don't bother telling me, let me guess"

Maria - "... I'm only trying to help you, tomorrow if you like, I'll introduce you to a very influential man"

German - "If that's the case, I'll have to be nice to you" (manoeuvring her over to the bed)

Maria - (looks down at the bed) "This is the end of the line"

German - "Then I guess we'd better... get off" (they descend together onto the bed)

Tom Adams appeared in three Eurospy movies as Secret Agent Charles Vine, this one, "Where The Bullets Fly" and "OK Yevtushenko", plus a heist movie called "The Fast Kill". He also appeared in supporting roles in Rachel Welch's espionage movie "Fathom" and another called "Subterfuge" starring Gene Barry and Joan Collins.

On the tele he was a regular in a show called "Spy Trap" and put in guest appearances in "The Avengers", "The Persuaders", "Ghost Squad", "The Strange Report" and a series called "The Spies", of which all but one episode was wiped during the BBC's tape wiping holocaust, but he was possibly most well-known, back in the day, for his role as arch rival Daniel Fogarty in the "Onedin Line".

Filmed in the UK as a serious Eurospy, repackaged for American audiences with a more spoofy title and a matching title song by serial Sinatra collaborators Sammy Cahn and Jimmy van Heusen, with a vocal from fellow rat packer Sammy Davis junior.

As I say, the film is played about 95% straight, which does not preclude some respectable attempts at Bond-esque one liners relating to, and during interactions with, women, plus a handful of references to James Bond himself, who is treated as a more senior agent and colleague.

Tom Adams looks the part, but there's something missing. Perhaps he's a bit wooden, or perhaps he's been instructed to under play, but just doesn't have the skill or charisma to pull that off. Whichever, he is far below Richard Johnson level, not even able to reach Ray Danton level in my opinion. But the rest of the cast is populated with familiar characters from UK productions, who all contribute suitably colourful performances

The only gadget Tom is provided with is an eeny-weeny, teeny-tiny gun, from Y branch, which is rather underwhelming. Fortunately he still has his regular pistol, a "broom handle / box cannon" Mauser C96, which he keeps in a special holster on the small of his back. However he does manage to bed three woman across the course of the movie, so his sexual prowess credentials are not in question.

The film has two major faults

Firstly its hugely overcomplicated plot, which is such that the director felt the need to have an entire long winded scene at the end of the film in order to explain it to Tom (and the viewer), and the amount of screen time devoted to the theory and nature of the Macguffin ("regrav" - reverse gravity), is quite un-necessary.

Secondly, and more significantly, the dull and lifeless direction, which is completely without imagination or flair, on a level acceptable for a television show, but not the big screen.

The same goes for the action scenes, which mainly involve lots and lots of shooting. (OK, to be fair, I should acknowledge he makes a couple of nice moves with his guns, in amongst the dross). There's only one hand to hand combat scene, which is a mess, and one car chase, which is very run of the mill, but no less than three vehicle-blocking-the-road ambushes. Clearly there was no budget for car crashes or explosions either, as the helicopter scene at the climax is embarrassingly inept.

However enough people liked it to make someone believe that sequels were viable.

Bondian Banter

Rockwell - "I'll give you one man"

Pickering - "Alright, one man, but he must be your best... how about that boy who settled that gold conspiracy, what's his name? Bondson...?"

Rockwell - "I'm afraid he's otherwise engaged, but I've got a good man for you..."

(Tom is in bed with a beautiful girl, phone rings...)

Tom - "Hello"

Rockwell - "Is that Charles Vine"

Tom - "Yes, of course it is"

Rockwell - "Its Rockwell here"

Tom - "Oh, good morning sir"

Rockwell - "Are you tied up at the moment?"

Tom - "No, I've nothing on at present..."

Rockwell - "Ah, could you possibly drag yourself away from her?"

(At the airport)

Prof Jacobsen - "This is my assistant, Miss Lindberg"

Tom - "Miss Lindberg, it will be a pleasure having you"

Miss Lindberg - "Having me where Mr Vine?" (smirk)

Tom - (smirks and turns back to the professor) "Your car is waiting..."

(Later, in the car, where Tom and the cameraman have been leering at Miss Lindberg's legs)

Prof Jacobsen - "You are a scientist Mr Vine?"

Tom - "Yes, in a way"

Miss Lindberg - "In which field?"

Tom - "I studied mathematics, why?"

Miss Lindberg - "I'm sorry, I assumed it was physiology, you seem to have an obsessive interest in anatomy"

Tom - "I am interested in certain areas of the subject" (smirk)

Miss Lindberg (smirk)

(At the research facility)

Tom - "You enjoying yourself?"

Computer Girl - "I am. I have an aptitude for figures."

Tom - "So have I. Tell me, what does this machine do?"

Computer Girl - "It gives general information, depending on the questions it receives."

Tom - "I see. Ask it for your telephone number, will you?"

(Later, in bed)

Computer Girl -"Why, what's your name?"

Tom - "Charles Vine"

Computer Girl -"It's funny, I met someone like you in Florida"

Tom - "Oh really, who was he?"

Computer Girl -"James, James something"

Tom - "Oh, ah, what did he do?"

Computer Girl -"He told me he was a vacuum cleaner salesman"

Tom - "Ah, isn't that a coincidence, so am I" (clinch)