According to Adam Ant 'Ridicule is nothing to be scared of...'so I'm unapologetically bigging up the fallaciously forgotten, unfairly misbegotten Michael Caine 90s heist flick 'Shadow Run' (1998). While this competently made crime potboiler has a serviceable plot, and attractive scenery, 'Shadow Run' is manifestly all about Sir Michael Caine's renowned prowess for creating indelibly fascinating rogues, and alongside the inimitable 'Caine', there's an equally 'able' cast!!!!??? Namely, James Fox, Kenneth Colley, Christopher Casenove, Tim Healey, and some especially enjoyable work from TV hero Leslie Grantham who has a palpable screen chemistry with the iconic Caine.
Happily, 'Shadow Run' proved to be far more eccentric in its execution than I could ever have hoped for, and while an aloof James Fox never fully engages with the pulpy material, a stern, darkly energized Michael Caine is magisterially menacing as the sadistic strangler Haskell, and 'Shadow Run' arguably contains the finest 'Thematically apropos pointing with a mustard-tipped sausage' acting that I have ever seen! Meaty stuff indeed!!!! While many seem overly hung up on the modest budget and formulaic text, I relished the wonderfully unexpected whimsicality therein, with Geoffrey Reeve's 'Shadow Run' frequently playing out like a glossier, feature-length episode of 'Dempsey and Makepeace', incongruently intertwined with a bizarrely retrograde Billy Bunter-esque subplot!!!!?? Another major plus being the scintillatingly perky presence of Rae Baker, who makes for some salaciously snackable screen candy! While this agreeably bucolic, visibly low budget B-thriller is appropriately pacey, Shadow Run's indelible legacy are all of its sublimely plentiful peccadilloes!
