The IPCRESS file ? Really
I'd like to say that it's not really fair to compare this with the 1965 film but that falls on its face as the new series kicks off by inviting that comparison then continues throughout.
Joe Cole (Joe 90) resembles only Frank Spencer in the beret scene - who okayed that ? I laughed I'm afraid as the spectacle was simply funny !
Clearly a lot of money was spent on this production and I'm sure Mr Deighton pocketed a healthy fee but a) The story is fantastic b) It's not the story Len Deighton wrote Why not write a new story instead of trying to glam up the original to near Bond incredulity by roping in JFK and using Deighton's character names as a skeleton to stretch the weak script & screenplay over. The result is a hollow, gutless & charmless mess which misses every gem of the story and Deighton's original witty prose.
Apart from Lucy Boynton the casting is clumsy at best. Joe Cole is gormless but Tom Hollander as Major Dalby ? Tom is 5" 4', made to look taller be using a hat and he keeps the big hair no officer born before WW1 would ever contemplate. Paul Higgins is still playing the part he picked up in Line of Duty - lazy and two dimensional. Colonel Stok is about as frightening as Blofeld but not so entertaining.
The revolting virtue signalling sticks in the throat also - Maddox is black & in case you hadn't noticed that fact he says so in his first line. Perhaps it is now forgotten that Maddox in the 1965 film was er, black ? To quote Morgan Freeman "you want to stop racism ? Stop talking about it".
I guess anyone born post 1980 will like it but then I doubt there's any danger of them reading the book. As Tom Hollander happily told Graham Norton he hasn't read the book either. Why would he ?
Joe Cole (Joe 90) resembles only Frank Spencer in the beret scene - who okayed that ? I laughed I'm afraid as the spectacle was simply funny !
Clearly a lot of money was spent on this production and I'm sure Mr Deighton pocketed a healthy fee but a) The story is fantastic b) It's not the story Len Deighton wrote Why not write a new story instead of trying to glam up the original to near Bond incredulity by roping in JFK and using Deighton's character names as a skeleton to stretch the weak script & screenplay over. The result is a hollow, gutless & charmless mess which misses every gem of the story and Deighton's original witty prose.
Apart from Lucy Boynton the casting is clumsy at best. Joe Cole is gormless but Tom Hollander as Major Dalby ? Tom is 5" 4', made to look taller be using a hat and he keeps the big hair no officer born before WW1 would ever contemplate. Paul Higgins is still playing the part he picked up in Line of Duty - lazy and two dimensional. Colonel Stok is about as frightening as Blofeld but not so entertaining.
The revolting virtue signalling sticks in the throat also - Maddox is black & in case you hadn't noticed that fact he says so in his first line. Perhaps it is now forgotten that Maddox in the 1965 film was er, black ? To quote Morgan Freeman "you want to stop racism ? Stop talking about it".
I guess anyone born post 1980 will like it but then I doubt there's any danger of them reading the book. As Tom Hollander happily told Graham Norton he hasn't read the book either. Why would he ?
- motocomiot
- Mar 20, 2022