The Fourth Protocol (1987) Reviews

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michael Caine, I thought I might as well give it a try. To be honest, it is basically one of his many obscure flicks (the guy has made about 120 movies over 7 decades already) but I was actually positively surprised by this feature. Indeed, Michael Caine is definitely an amazing and usually underrated actor and this movie was basically a good old spy flick and Caine gave a really solid performance. On top of that, the directing was decent and the story was really entertaining. In fact, I discovered later on that it was an adaptation of a book written by Frederick Forsyth and the guy also wrote ‘The Day of the Jackal’ which turned out to be one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. To be honest, this movie never reaches the level of awesomness displayed by ‘The Day of the Jackal’ but it was still a fairly realistic thriller and it was definitely entertaining. To conclude, even though it is not really a masterpiece, it is still a really solid thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Solid thriller with Michael Caine out to foil a KGB plot to destroy NATO, whilst on the way uncovering a web of lies and deceit as top British and Russian spies try to outwit each other by passing on documents containing plans to blow up an American airbase, in East Anglia, with a nuclear weapon. Pierce Brosnan is the KGB agent assigned to help assemble and detonate the bomb. There are a few nice twists and the film whisks along at a good pace, but the acting isn't great - particularly from Julian Glover as Caine's boss who rather overplays his role, but the score, decent cinematography, plot and a little bit of classic Caine badassery (this time dispatching racist skinheads on a train), make up for it. Thus ends probably my most gramatically incorrect and rushed review ever.

4/5