I went in watching the movie this movie having no concept of
the series on which it was based, SPOOKS, that ran from 2002-11 in Britain. The
good news is that you don’t have to be aware of that series or its characters.
This film picks up with at least one but gives you enough information to stand
on its own.
Under Intelligence Chief Harry Pearce (Peter Firth)
terrorist Adam Qasim (Elyes Gabel) is being transferred into the custody of the
CIA when the convoy is attacked. Rather than jeopardize lives in the process
Pearce tells his team to stand down and Qasim escapes. As if that weren’t
enough, Pearce disappears shortly thereafter making it seem as if he was
involved.
Rather than be left with egg on their face MI-5 calls in
ex-agent Will Holloway (Kit Harrington) to locate and take down Pearce. As a
protégé to the now missing Pearce, MI-5 feels that he will know better than
anyone how to find him. With a grudge against Pearce as well, since it was he
who took him out of MI-5, Will has every reason in the world to want to take on
the task.
The two eventually meet early on and Will discovers there
was a reason for Pearce’ disappearance. Pearce has discovered there is a mole
in MI-5, an operative who seems more than happy to create a reason to bring the
entire group down. While the risk Pearce took in the release of a known
terrorist was high, the chance of ferreting out the mole was worth it to him.
Now he must convince Will to help him discover who that person is.
Playing against MI-5 while making it seem that he is indeed
looking for Pearce is not an easy task but Will is up for it. As he tracks down
the suspects and works to find the traitor, Pearce lends a hand when and where
he can. It eventually leads to a showdown with Qasim who is little more than a pawn
being used by the mole. As Qasim plans a massive siege on the city of London
with bombs planted in various locations, the final discovery is made as to the
identity of the mole.
The movie works well on many levels. Rather than the suave
and always calm Bond style of spy we’re used to seeing from England we here
have a disheveled looking spy in the form of Will who doesn’t know all, isn’t
equipped with the “toys” Bond has and yet is just as if not more capable to
handle most situations. Will is what you would expect a real spy to be like and
Pearce as his mentor is a character that knows how to deal with the duplicitous
nature of the job.
Firth is comfortable in the role of Pearce as he well should
be having played the part in the series. He’s a spy who’s gotten older, seen
far too much and while perhaps weary of the tasks at hand is always willing to
do his all for Queen and country. Harrington does a great job here as Will.
Known mostly for his work on GAME OF THRONES it’s nice to see him in something
else and able to prove he’s more than just worth being regarded for that alone.
On the whole this was a fun movie to watch, a more thought
provoking spy film than many and one that I would love to see carry on with
sequels though I’m guessing it won’t happen unfortunately. Then again after the
initial rise of the Bond films who would have thought we’d see sequels to
movies like THE IPCRESS FILES back in the day. This one is worth watching.
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