THE FOURTH PROTOCOL
A film review by Mark Brader
Copyright 1987 Mark Brader
Frederick Forsyth has written several thrillers, and several of them have been adapted into movies, starting with his first, the excellent THE DAY OF THE JACKAL. THE FOURTH PROTOCOL marks the first time that Forsyth also did the screenplay adaptation.
Pierce Brosnan, who wanted to play James Bond, is now on the other side: he plays a top Russian agent who is sent to England to do a very dirty piece of work against the NATO alliance. (It will violate "the fourth protocol" of a certain treaty, hence the title.) Michael Caine, who has starred in spy movies from THE IPCRESS FILE up to the current THE WHISTLE BLOWER, plays the man who is trying to stop him. Caine's world in this movie is not far removed from that of THE IPCRESS FILE, though perhaps a bit less grotty.
Caine and Brosnan, and the supporting cast also, turn in decent performances; the direction was unspectacular but the story kept moving along. On the whole I found the movie entirely satisfactory -- except for the most important thing, the script. (Some types of movies can stand large-to-middling implausibilities in the script: I loved THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, rate it $7.50 (Cdn), and recommend it just for fun even to other non-fans of James Bond. But a serious thriller such as THE FOURTH PROTOCOL must meet higher standards.)
I'll be vague about details to avoid any spoilers. But to give you an idea: The premise of the Russian plot made sense, but their implementation did not; it allowed too many chances for the discovery of one piece to tip NATO off to the whole thing. (Just as well, otherwise there would have been no movie, but still...) One piece of tactics is used so many times that by the last time it has become predictable; that scene also contains a silly mistake (I was thinking, "Ah, he's doing it that way so as to avoid that cliche error giving away his plans", and one minute later, the cliche was shown as having occurred anyway.) Also, the ending seemed abrupt, with an explicit unanswered question; I wondered if a sequel is contemplated.
I'll give this one a $5 (Cdn) rating, on a base of $6 regular admission.
Mark Brader utzoo!sq!msb
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