Review of Midnight in Saint Petersburg

"Bullet To Beijing" was a more than decent attempt to revive and update the character of brains-before-brawn spy Harry Palmer for the post-Cold War era. This follow-up, filmed back-to-back with its predecessor with much of the same cast, does not live up to the same standards; it's uninspired and overly talky. Much of it consists of Harry Palmer going around and talking with each of the returning characters, without really getting anywhere until the last 20 minutes. Palmer will always be one of Michael Caine's trademark roles, but this time he doesn't seem to be as "into" it as before. Good location work in St. Petersburg cannot make up for the film's utter lack of narrative drive. ** out of 4.