* * * WARNING -- POSSIBLE SPOILERS * * *
Timothy Dalton plays a major criminal, captured by the British police, who is "grassing" (informing) on his confederates to avoid a long sentence. On one side of the action, he plays cat and mouse mindgames with his young, inexperienced police interrogator; on the other, his ex-gang is desperate to kill him before he spills too much. While the grittiness and police procedure are pluses, Dalton is much too glossy to play a criminal. His movie star good looks clash startlingly with the realistic, plain countenances of the cops (and the robbers!). Much of the middle of the movie is claustrophobic, taking place underground in one of the police safe cells. Worst of all, several major plot threads are left dangling at the "surprise" conclusion, including the fate of the chain-smoking chief inspector, and the total disappearance of the hovering bad-guy assassins. It looks almost as tho Lynda LaPlante's script was intended for a miniseries, and it was violently abbreviated to fit it into a feature film.
2 1/2 stars out of 5.
Timothy Dalton plays a major criminal, captured by the British police, who is "grassing" (informing) on his confederates to avoid a long sentence. On one side of the action, he plays cat and mouse mindgames with his young, inexperienced police interrogator; on the other, his ex-gang is desperate to kill him before he spills too much. While the grittiness and police procedure are pluses, Dalton is much too glossy to play a criminal. His movie star good looks clash startlingly with the realistic, plain countenances of the cops (and the robbers!). Much of the middle of the movie is claustrophobic, taking place underground in one of the police safe cells. Worst of all, several major plot threads are left dangling at the "surprise" conclusion, including the fate of the chain-smoking chief inspector, and the total disappearance of the hovering bad-guy assassins. It looks almost as tho Lynda LaPlante's script was intended for a miniseries, and it was violently abbreviated to fit it into a feature film.
2 1/2 stars out of 5.