Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Matho
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
blanche-2
John Hurt is "The Commissioner" in this 1998 drama.The film begins with a horrific suicide and then reverts to a heavy scene between the British prime minister and a high-ranking government official, James Morton, who is fired. The reasons are political, but we aren't really told why or what happened. The PM wants to use Morton's abilities, so he sends him to Brussels as Britain's European Commissioner, and he is promised that his role will be in Foreign Affairs. Instead, it's Industry. Morton doesn't want the job as he feels it's a true exile, but he goes. He basically leaves his wife (Alice Krige) behind. She's sick of his philandering and wants a divorce.In his job as Commissioner, Morton receives information about a huge German chemical company that is supposedly manufacturing nerve and biological weapons, and is about to merge with a British company. Everyone is all for the merger, but Morton delays it. He is given compelling documents from a former worker at the plant (Armin Mueller-Stahl). The investigation leads to some shocking information.John Hurt is one of the greatest actors to come out of the UK, and he could act the phone book and get an Oscar nomination. I really didn't feel this role was fitting for an actor of his caliber, though he is excellent. Mueller-Stahl is a real standout as well, and Rosana Pastor is beautiful and convincing.The problem is that we just don't find out enough about the characters and the back story, and in fact, the film ends and we really don't know how things are going to turn out for the most part.I expect more important things from John Hurt, whose work in The Naked Civil Servant and Elephant Man stand as two of the most brilliant performances of all time.
Tim Gadd
John Hurt is wasted in this German-English-Belgian low-budget, poorly produced drama/thriller. Hurt does his best, and the basic idea from the novel is sound, but this film is a failure in most respects (If you want an example of how this sort of thing MIGHT have been done, chase up the original English TV series of 'Edge of Darkness') For a start the production values are awful. It's sub-TV. In one scene a camera pans to the left, obviously bumps into something, wobbles, and the six producers and co-producers (not to mention editor, director) either didn't notice or didn't care. The sound, in some scenes, is filled with the sort of ambient noise you really don't want: noises which ought not be heard make their way in.Supporting actors are at best adequate; at worst painful.In theory it ought to work, given a budget, but it ends up a tiresome shambles. Without Hurt it would be unwatchable. Gods know why maybe the best male actor of the early-mid 80's was reduced to this sort of thing.
stephen-simpson
This film's subject matter may be more worthwhile than average - let's face it, the institutions of the European Union need all the PR they can get - but that doesn't make up for the unlikely plot twists, unsubtle (cliched, even) characters and the feeling that this is only the first part of a bigger story. The viewer is likely to feel unsatisfied because different elements aren't connected well; for example, the film begins with a very dramatic scene but this turns out not to be the real climax, only one of a series of dramatic events. The nature of the relationships between John Hurt's character and other characters, such as his wife, his lover, the prime minister and the journalist, is not shown in a way that reveals how it is relevant to the plot.John Hurt is always watchable and it's just a shame that this partly-realized story provides the viewer with only the odd glimpse of what his character could be; a determined, morally decent (but flawed) man prepared to bring the world down around him for the sake of justice.
jnw
This film makes a change in that it is about The European Community instead of one particular political party or country. An embittered out-of-favour British politician (played by John Hurt) is banished to Brussels, as Britain's European Commissioner for Industry, which he believes, will be terribly dull. But then after a tip off about criminal activities by an employee of a top European chemical company, who tells the commissioner that they are also manufacturing nerve and biological warfare agents. From there all the intrigue and double crossing of both friends and enemies starts and does not stop even at the end of this political thriller. This is the best part I have seen John Hurt play for a very long time and as the commissioner he is very convincing. The films only problems are it is a bit drawn out and it is one of those films that leaves you guessing at the end as to what really happened. Will there be a sequel to put our minds at rest? My recommendation is well worth watching and out of 10 I would give it 7.( JNW ) John N. Wainwright.
jwainwrightj@freenet.co.uk
