Top ‘Pop’ purveyor David Koepp (JURASSIC PARK; MISSION IMPOSSIBLE; SPIDER-MAN) tries to let his inner Harold Pinter out . . . and finds he isn’t there. But as Nobel Laureate Pinter never wrote one of these Spy vs Spy things, the results, cryptic as a Times of London Sunday puzzle, prove more than acceptable. Especially with director, cinematographer, editor Steven Soderbergh keeping it all within a 93" running time. Michael Fassbender, in character defining eyeglasses (purposefully recalling Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer in THE IPCRESS FILE/’65?*) is the high-placed agent assigned by a square-faced Pierce Bronson to uncover a program leak (stolen for cash or ideology?) that naturally could compromise the entire British spy network. (Or some such blather.) There are five likely suspects (all A-list actors), including Cate Blanchett as Fassbender’s wife, herself a top company spy. Blanchett, hurting our comprehension by showing up camouflaged in long dark hair (who is this person?) just when we need to concentrate on the plot. (Or has she been deliberately obscured to cultivate inscrutable Pinter panache?) Inviting them all home to dinner (Fassbender a gourmet cook), Koepp lowers himself to get at their character by having them play one of those insipid ‘truth games.’ Here, ‘outing’ not themselves, but their dining table neighbor. (Really, Koepp? A truth game? Among spies!) Later, a nerve-racking surveillance set piece will make everything clear. Too clear, yes? Are we being set up? Seems Koepp is not only no Harold Pinter, he’s also no John le Carré. But that turns out to be less of a problem than you might think under the beguiling visual surface Soderbergh crafts for us; the film too much fun to watch for narrative nitpicking.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Thanks to director Guy Green, FUNERAL IN BERLIN/’66 is probably the best of the Harry Palmer trio. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/05/funeral-in-berlin-1966.html
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