Rakesh's movie talk
Fourth Protocol, The (1987)













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Directed by John Mackenzie

Starring: Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
















Forget Brosnan's performance in the Bond movies or the recent excellent Tailor of Panama. His cold, calculative KGB agent in The Fourth Protocol should have told us what a wonderful actor he is.

Made in 1987, the film is closer to its older brother (The Days of Jackal, also by Frederick Forsyth) than the spy films starring Michael Caine, as I originally thought it would be. The pace is slow, but thoughtful. Like Jackal, we get to see Brosnan making preparation to bring in the bomb and piecing it together. We also get to see Caine, 'the rebel' of M16 tracking him down.

The same year found Dalton starring as Bond for the first time. Bond fans will remember that Brosnan was the original choice but unable to make it due to commitments in TV, which also never materialised. It must be out of anger that he played KGB here. It certainly shows. He is in his darkest and the most deadliest. Sadly, these qualities didn't show much in his performance as Bond. That's my grouse. I am sure most of you are perfectly happy with Brosnan's Bond. Nothing personal.

This film is good. No complaints, just that it may be a bit boring for action-movie buffs.