The Holcroft Covenant

A spy thriller that isn’t a comedy at all, while its constantly pursued hero can’t even drive and is more of an impractical idealist? I really liked the movie in this spirit, but, as Woody mentions, all of a sudden during one moved between London and Berlin the hero turns into a constantly pursued, experienced “action hero" who has a even better eye than Olympic gold medal winners in shooting. While a couple of minutes before he can’t even tell when a gun is on safety. Not that in the spirit of the following phase was bad, but I have seen so many movies like that. While there are terribly few thrillers with a loser where the tone doesn’t become comic. It’s even weirder in that after that phase, everything returns to the way it was before. Otherwise, The Holcroft Covenant is a quality representative of its genre. Caine is outstanding, as is the music (mainly the countless variations of the main “pirate" motif), no problems with pace, the plot is suitably twisty, but also quite predictable and Bernard Hepton’s delicious English is a delight to the ears. A superb watch. (20/05/2009)