Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is ripe for cult attraction. Directed by Tomas Alfredson who gave us the undeniably amazing "Let The Right One In" and starring the massively underrated Gary Oldman in the lead role, this espionage film about a Russian mole in the higher ends of British Intelligence in the 1970s contains so much talent in its confines that there isn't any possible way it could be bad...and its not. The film does happen to be quite boring though.

George Smiley (Oldman) has just been given a new assignment. After a botched attempt by his boss to uncover a supposed mole within the British Intelligence (deemed The Circus here) that gets an agent shot and apprehended on foreign soil, he was forced to retire from service along with his mentor and boss Control (Hurt). Things haven't gotten better though and Smiley is brought back in to dig deep and bring out the shadowed mole or prove it was a ruse. Like a puzzle of lies and double truths pieced by both the Brits and Russians, Smiley will have to gather enough intelligence and facts to bring to light one man who threatens it all.

Running in flip flops...the most dangerous game.

Starting with the positives, "Tinker" is a beautiful film. This cannot be understated. Alfredson takes a very 70s approach to filming it focusing on long winding shots, lots of silence, and very subtle detail work to make this film is as nuanced as the clues our protagonist is sifting for. Even the rather timed look of the visuals and decadent use of costumes and sets make one feel like they are living in that time period and never does that feel awkward. This is partnered with stunning performances from Oldman and a plethora of great supporting cast members. Character actors like Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Colin Firth, and a half dozen others all litter the film with detailed characters that more often than not feel completely brushed over with its over zealous plot twists and detail focused storytelling. Which is a great problem to have.

I'm intimidated by Gary Oldman too. Even when he looks normal.

On the other side of this 'expertly executed' fence, comes the more realistic and now artistic side of film making. Did the damn thing entertain? To a certain point it did. It's execution is damn near flawless and its complex characters and script make for a film to tease out details on further watches. It also happens to be quite boring. For all the details and plot twists, rarely did the film connect with me on an entertainment level. As if one is along for the ride watching the tale unfold rather than in the mix and letting it happen around you. One is so encased with thought at its nuances that one forgets to be in the moment. A rather haunting flaw that leaves one rather uninterested with how the film eventually ends.

In any upcoming elections I would vote Gary Oldman as Zorg for leader. (Picture from "The Fifth Element")

The one major flaw of the film is one that its script and style embraces with a passion, allowing the art of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" to pour over with grandeur. This is a film that is one to sit and analyze for its great executions, but not one that I would throw on for fun...which can be a deal breaker in my book.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

La Femme Nikita [Nikita] - 4.5/5

As a cult film fan, I hang my head in shame for just now getting to watch the mesmerizing "La Femme Nikita" (as its known in America). I've been a Luc Besson fan for far too long to not watch this tour de force of art house action that this film represents. Scoff at me if you will, but it eventually came around and "La Femme Nikita" has proven its cult status as a must have for action/drama films.

Nikita (Parillaud) has had it rough. When she kills a police officer in a drugged out rage after a brutal gun fight between police and her gang friends during a robbery, her life just gets a little bit worse. She is sentenced to some serious prison time and with no one in her life to care, her life with her troubled mind is not looking bright. That is...until Bob (Karyo) shows up. He gives her a chance at a new life. Train under him to be a special ops agent. Assassin, undercover surveillance, operations leader. Her sudden knack for chaos and mischief just got a meaning. Can she handle the sudden change of heart and life purpose though?

One of the reasons I kept putting off "La Femme Nikita" was the fact that the story just didn't really intrigue me. It seemed simple and silly. This is where Luc Besson really works this film to the edges and pushes it. The story is remarkably simple, but the rest of the film is extreme. The violence is high velocity and brutal (did I just see Jean Reno poor acid on a living man?!?) and the silence is deep, and dark filled with tension and sorrow. Actress Parillaud makes a rather basic role (that could have gone cheesy far too many times) and turns it on its head leaving us a protagonist that is both completely bat shit insane and yet completely understandable in her struggles. So that by the latter half of the film, as it changes tones and she begins to realize what life she missed out on for so long, we cry with her as it begins to crumble out of her hands.

The film also sports a stunning supporting cast, all of whom steal their respective scenes (including Jean Reno as a really brutal 'cleaner') and with the artful editing process and pacing, "La Femme Nikita" certainly takes a rather basic script and makes it a riveting watch that both entertaining and completely engaging of the full emotional range. As I said before, it's like an art house action film with no hold's barred.

Like "Hard Boiled", "La Femme Nikita" is an action film that rise above the standards with its stellar exectuion one and off screen. Besson works the heart strings for all their worth to surprising effect. The acting, special effects, and action sequences are all worth every second of their screen time. By the time the sudden (and rather frustrating) ending comes about, the audience is just as consumed with Nikita's story as they should be. And then some.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Electra One - 3/5

"Electra One" (sometimes spelled "Electra 1" and also known as "With Death on Your Back") is one of the most rare films I've reviewed here on Blood Brothers. Why? Well it's because this insanely obscure 1967 Euro Spy film only got a very limited VHS release in a small number of countries and the DVD release here in America is part of a very limited DVD set (limited to 250 units) called "How Europe Does Babes, Bombs and Guns" and is packaged alongside the "Agent 077" trilogy. Yes... only 250 DVDs of this is in existence in the world so this is one fucking rare film. Well rare films are usually rare for a reason as they fall into the bracket of "not very fucking good and deserves to be forgotten." Is "Electra One" one of these such films? Well I can honestly say NO.

Some terrorists are up to no good in the swinging 60s as they have developed a gas that can make anyone do what they wish, like have a high ranking military commander go bonkers and push a button to launch missiles. America and Russia not surprisingly flip out over this new gas and the two countries join together in order to develop a cure and to capture the terrorists involved. In comes George Martin to throw a kink into the system as he is a master jewel thief that steals a brief case containing the antidote (stated early on in the film that it is the only vile as there was no time to make more... dumbasses). He sells it for cash but then gets involved in a multi-national scheme and now he has to clear his name and do the good dead of saving the world.

Unlike other Euro Spy films I have seen which are mostly Italian made, this little hidden gem is actually a Spanish Euro Spy film despite starring George Martin, an actor mostly known for his Italian pictures in the Spaghetti Western genre. Martin is loveable in the role as the James Bond-esque jewel thief as he portrays the character with a likeable cockiness and charm. I will say it is interesting making the main character a thief as opposed to a secret agent like most of these European knock-off films do.

Director Alfonso Balcázar loads the film up with plenty of action and humor. We get gun fights, foot chases, airplane chases and one hell-of-a car chase. The airplane chase towards the end also is highly reminiscent of the helicopter chase at the climax of the fantastic James Bond picture "From Russia with Love." His humor is also well placed without overbearing the story. My personal favorite humor touches include the banter between the United States and Russian secret services which include playful ways to kill each other.

The plot can get a little silly at times especially as its main plot surrounds a gas that, according to a character, makes people "do actions they normally wouldn't do." What?! At the beginning of the film they wanted to use the gas to cause a military commander to hit a button to launch some missiles and he almost succeeds. How the fuck did they know the gas would make him do that exact action? Can they fine tune the gas to make people do whatever action they want, like make a person take a dump in the middle of the floor? This is a ridiculous plot device but I'll role with it for a fun loving 60s spy romp.

For a low budget Euro Spy film I found this insanely entertaining. Great.. hell no but a lot of fun. It's got enough action, humor and eye candy to keep any fan of 60s Euro Spy entertained. As good as a James Bond film from the era? Well no but one shouldn't expect it to be. For what it is "Electra One" is sure to entertain.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Special Mission Lady Chaplin - 3.5/5

The name is Malloy, Dick Malloy - Agent 077

Much like the third James Bond film "Goldfinger" perfected the Bond formula, the third Dick Malloy film "Special Mission Lady Chaplin" perfected the Bond knock-off formula. Seriously this is the most fun, action packed and entertaining of Italy's Agent 077 trilogy and defined what an Italian Bond clone film should be like.... which is a Bond film, what else?

The plot is typical Bond-esque espionage material with a sunken nuclear submarine somehow moving locations. In comes in secret agent 077 (damn that number makes me crack up every time... seriously could they reference the franchise they were ripping off any more obviously?) who discovers that the nuclear missile cargo as been stolen. Now 077 must track down a beautiful and lethal assassin known as Lady Chaplin to "charm" her into revealing her knowledge about the whereabouts of the missiles. Like Bond, the charming comes naturally.

Like a good Bond clone we get all the necessary staples. Car and foot chases: check. Bodacious European babes: check. A world domination plot: check. Gadgets: check (including a ejector seat car mimicking Bond's car in "Goldfinger" and a pocket air breather mimicking Bond's in "Thunderball"). A catchy title song: check. A heroic spy that's a wonder with women with a Conery-esque hairy chest: check. The only thing this film is missing (that the previous two 077 films "Mission Bloody Mary" and "From the Orient with Fury" got right) is a swinging 60s title sequence... seriously what the fuck? How could they miss out on that fact?

Collaborating director Alberto De Martino helps director Sergio Grieco brings some new life into the franchise (is "franchise" a proper term for an Italian knock-off trilogy?) with tight action sequences and an intriguing, though a little corny, espionage plot. Ken Clark is still very fitting into his spy role and Daniela Bianchi keeps your eyes glued to the screen with her beauty and lethality as our assassin. Does her name look familiar to you? Well if you're a Bond fan then it should as she played the leading lady in "From Russia With Love." Shit our filmmakers weren't content on copying the Bond formula they decided to steal some of that franchises leading actors as well! That's fine by me as Bianchi gets this reviewers mojo running any day.

Typical with Italian films the dubbing is a little off and some of the dialogue is hilariously translated. My personal favorite is when they find the location to the missiles, agent 077's boss (equivalent to M in the Bond franchise) tells him "that's the way the cookie crumbles" when no reinforcements will be able to back him up. Our "Bond" hero also isn't as "smart" as 007 per say as he was even oblivious that nuclear missiles don't detonate when a fire breaks out. Fuck even I knew that nuclear missiles were designed to survive a crash... and I'm not even to be educated to be a secret agent (you can thank John Woo's "Broken Arrow" for teaching me that little fact :-} ).

Some of the story elements are also a little silly and convenient for the plot. Lady Chaplin smuggles in rocket fuel for the missiles by soaking it into the fabric of some dresses which of course makes one unfortunate model hilariously explode into a ball of flame. Also our main villain conveniently keeps fucking scorpions in his missile bay so they can aid 077 in his mission. Really who the fuck keeps scorpions in their missile bay?

Other than those few hilarious plot quibbles I have to say this Bond knock-off is almost as entertaining as an actual Bond film. Like the previous two films it utilizes is low budget well by making the most of it's authentic European locations. Mix that with all the other essential Bond ingredients and you're guaranteed a fun espionage romp and a must for fans of the Italian 'Euro Spy' genre.

Note: Like the previous 077 films the Dorado DVD release has the picture ratio screwed up making the image annoying elongated so all our characters look 6.5' tall. Again, I keep my fingers crossed, I hope Dorado films fixes this defect on future releases so we all can truly enjoy this trilogy the way it was meant to be seen.

Dick Malloy will return in... damnit, this was the last 077 film! Shit... just when they perfected the formula.

From the Orient with Fury - 3/5

The name is Malloy, Dick Malloy - Agent 077

This second adventure for James Bond knock-off secret Agent 077 sadly didn't out due the first film "Mission Bloody Mary" like the second Bond film and similar namesake "From Russia With Love" out did Bond's first adventure "Dr. No." Why might you ask? Well if you ask me it's due to the fact that "From the Orient with Fury" got released the same year as 077's first adventure and the hurried production reared its ugly head with flaws. It's not a complete loss as it still manages to be entertaining Euro Spy flick.

This time agent Dick Malloy must rescue a scientist from some terrorists what want him to build a laser to... du du duuuuu.... take over the world. Along the way 077 travels the globe and gets into a lot of chases, fist fights and women's beds.
The plot is pretty typical for Bond knock-off fair and the typical Bond must-haves are included: exotic locations, sexy babes, gadgets (including a camera belt and Morse code suspenders) and fist fights. Even with all this the lackluster plot tends to bog this film down and it does become dull far too often for an espionage thriller.

Ken Clark again is wonderful in the role of 077 was he is both a two fisted fighter and cool headed for a super spy. For Bond clones, you can't get better than Clark. The villains though are rather boring and the head baddie actually gets some unintentional laughter towards the end when he goes all bonkers with the death laser, disintegrating rock and soldiers in the process.

"From the Orient with Fury" is easily the weakest entry into the 077 trilogy but it is still entertaining in its own low budget, James Bond inspired knock-off way. Compared to the other entries this one just lacks a good plot and gets bogged down because of it. Like the other films this is rather obscure but is the easiest to obtain on DVD.

Like the other two entries the picture ratio screwed up on the Dorodo Films DVD. The 2.35:1 picture ratio is stretched to 1.85:1 making the image, and characters look tall and thin. Annoying, yes, but it's the only way to see the film for know. After contacting Dorado Films about the problem I was informed that they would re-release all three entries at later date with the ratio problem fixed which is great news for us Euro Cult fanatics.

Dick Malloy with return in "Special Mission Lady Chaplin".

Written by Eric Reifschneider

Mission Bloody Mary - 3.5/5

The name is Malloy, Dick Malloy - Agent 077

Since my brother reviewed the golden Cadillac James Bond 007 film series, I found it perfectly fitting for me to review Italy's low budget rip-off trilogy featuring the suave, cool headed secret agent 077. I find the term "rip-off" to be a tad harsh here as this actually isn't a bad film at all. We'll use the term "inspired" instead to be nice.

Well back in the 1960s the Beatles ruled the radio, Batman ruled the television and Bond ruled the cinemas. Bond films were the box offices biggest draws but Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman couldn't produce the films fast enough to fill the need by audiences so Italy was gracious enough to lend a hand and release a number of "inspired" films themselves, the most popular being the 077 trilogy (subtle weren't they picking that for his code number?). Being a hardcore Bond fanatic as well as a connoisseur of Italian films, these Bond "inspired" films are a combination made in heaven for this cult film fanatic. Heaven was exactly what I got as this first 077 adventure is a perfect mixture of a gritty Spaghetti Western and James Bond thriller.

Ken Clark plays our Bond clone agent 077 but instead of working for the British Secret Service, he is American and works for the CIA. 077 is on the trail of a stolen nuclear weapon device but not surprisingly he's not the only man who wants to get his hands on it. Nipping at the back of his feet are the Russian and Chinese secret service. Espionage and action are sure to come as well with interesting twists with "what side are they on" moments.

All the staples of Bond films are here: eye catching title sequence, car chases, spies in tuxedos, exotic locations, fights sequences, gorgeous women, wonderful music, and nasty villains. Some may just call this a "low grade Bond rip-off" but the filmmakers did a wonderful job with their shoestring budget to bring us a really enjoyable espionage thriller. I especially dug the gritty filmmaking nature to the picture very reminiscent of the popular Italian spaghetti westerns of the day.

Ken Clark is a likable handsome lead and is perfectly cast as a Bond Clone. He's a decent actor and holds his own in onscreen fights (the "From Russia with Love" inspired train fist fight was especially thrilling). He may work for the CIA as opposed to her majesty's secret service but I do believe Bond has met his match!

Are you a fan of early 1960s James Bond films? Then I highly recommend this 077 adventure. It may have a tight budget and the villain is rather lackluster but it doesn't hinder this espionage thriller too bad. I say give it shot if you can find it as it is hard to come by but it was released on DVD by Dorado Films.

The Dorado Films DVD I have to admit is disappointing as the picture ratio is 2.35:1 stretched to 1.85:1 making the image and characters look taller. I found it very annoying and it detrimented my enjoyment for the film. I contacted Dorado Films about the problem and they responded with a very courteous email that they were going to fix the ratio problem with the future release of the film. I love to support small cult DVD companies and their professionalism on the matter will ensure that I will buy future DVD releases from them.

Dick Malloy will return in "From the Orient With Fury"

Written By Eric Reifschneider