The Innocent
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Movie Reviews of The Innocent
Movie Review: One of the Worst Directed Films I've Ever Seen
Summary: 2 Stars
John Schlesinger is a respected director. What happened with this film? Was the screenplay so awful that he was unable to do anything to save the production? To be kind, I will describe the music score as banal and forgettable. Did Anthony Hopkins bet too much money in Las Vegas leaving him desperately in debt? There are no redeeming qualities to recommend this Cold War spy story. It is entirely senseless. We are expected to buy into the story of a woman supposedly trying to seduce a scientist to learn about the secret project he is working on. I never did figure out who was employing her. The film ended with me scratching my head in total bewilderment. One can literally find made for TV movies which offer far more entertainment value. Alas, I suffered through to the bitter end. Please do not do likewise. Ignore The Innocent. Life is too short. You have better things to do---like watching grass growing in the back of your house.
David Thomson
Flares into Darkness
Movie Review: Not Exactly As Good As The Book
Summary: 2 Stars
This film gets 2 stars for good production only. Fans of the book will be grossly disappointed. Anthony Hopkins was grossly mis-cast. It stays too far from the book in order to be an "acceptable" movie and too much is lost and twisted in the conversion. Frankly, I'd think McEwan would have enough money that he wouldn't need to sell out this way.
The characters have no chemistry with one another.
The ending is ambiguous.
For all the "movie" magic weaved in, it lacks drama.
A mere phantom of the book. Skip it.
Movie Review: A Flawed but Intense Film of Espionage, Intrigue and History
Summary: 4 Stars
THE INNOCENT is a little known movie released in 1995 and only just now available on DVD. For those who are fans of novelist Ian McEwan stories (The Atonement, Amsterdam, Enduring Love, The Comfort of Strangers, The Child in Time, etc) then this foray into screenwriting based on his own 1989 novel by the same name will be of great interest. Based on a true bit of history, the story takes place in 1954 when the British and Americans were carrying on a clandestine partnership in digging a tunnel beneath the Berlin Wall to gain access to the buried telephone lines that provided wire tapping of Russian communications. The CIA agent in charge of the American division is Bob (played by a very oddly cast Anthony Hopkins) who receives the genteel and innocent 25-year-old British soldier Leonard (Campbell Scott) as a technician to direct the wire-taping mission. Leonard is the true 'guileless fool', a wide eyed virgin on his first undercover military mission and eventually his first affair with an older German woman Maria (Isabella Rossellini), a woman with a dubious past, who eventually involves him in the murder of her husband Otto (Ronald Nitschke) and his rather Grand Guignol disposal. Now completely trapped by the circumstances of the Cold War and his inadvertent entry into espionage, Leonard is forced to escape to England in a way that involves Maria and Bob and the fact that the Russians discover the intrigue. The film ends with a return of Leonard to the Berlin of 1989 when the Berlin Wall come down: the intervening 25 years have taken their toll on all concerned.
The film is very well directed by John Schlesinger and while Campbell and Rossellini are excellent, Hopkins as a brash American CIA agent seems oddly miscast. He is a fine actor and is able to bring off his multifaceted role well, but just seems uncomfortable and makes us feel that. A movie well worth your attention, especially if you happen to love Ian McEwan's elegant way with words and story line.
Movie Review: "The Innocent"
Summary: 2 Stars
Set in the 1950's during the Cold War, "The Innocent" is a story of a young English engineer named Leonard (Campbell Scott) who is sent to Berlin to tap into Russian telephone wires. His commanding officer, the American CIA agent Bob (Anthony Hopkins), is constantly reminding Leonard that there is danger in trusting civilians. Bob's fear is that an American-British multi-million dollar project used to spy on the Russians will be uncovered. Meanwhile, Leonard, who is inexperienced with women, falls in love with a seductive German woman named Maria (Isabella Rossellini). Bob warns him of the potential danger, but Leonard proceeds with his love affair despite the warning. Maria probes Leonard for bits of information about his job, and when Leonard discovers that Maria has not been truthful with him the story takes a twist.The story moves slowly and the acting has a lot to be desired. It is not the worst movie I have seen, but far from the best. While portraying an American, Anthony Hopkins has many problems with the dialog which causes him to speak loud, abrupt, and with no emotion. Campbell Scott tries his best to speak a British dialect and in the process is very soft-spoken. Isabella Rossellini gives it her best shot to speak German and frequently giggles. Personally, being a fan of the great Anthony Hopkins, I felt that his bills might have waited until he received another movie offer.
Movie Review: REALLY BAD!
Summary: 1 Stars
Another really bad cold war movie! Sir Anthony Hopkins tries to speak American English but fails completely! And so do the other actors. The story line is ridiculous, as most of the cold war movies. However, this movie could be worth seeing. But you would need Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ingrid Bergman in the cast. A waste of time and money!
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