The Man on the Other Side

I'd love to rate this higher. Mari Bensel is captivating and easily the best part of the film. Hard to believe that her character thinks of herself as 'plain'. She's anything but. The camera work is good, and the acting is fine all around. The choice of a love interest for Ms. Bensel may leave viewers shaking their heads though. She and her lover make the oddest-looking odd couple the screen as seen in a long, long time. There are some good things in this film. Alas, both the plot and the plot devices aren't among them.

While the set-up that leads to the action is understandable and, perhaps, even believable, from then on anyone over the age of three can tell what's really going on and how it will play out. It's that obvious. Oh, and the plot holes.... too numerous to mention (for a spy movie, it seems the dumbest spies in the world were chosen to tell their tale) reduce the potential tension in the film to a whole lot of 'hey, what about???' moments. The worst part? The 'McGuffin', the reason or driving force behind all the action, is left in the wrong hands for any kind of resolution.

Enjoyed Mari Bensel from start to finish, but this film strained credibility way too many times.