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.

johngammon56 This film has a lot going for it - it has a good cast, an interesting director, and an offbeat theme. But the result is no better than an average TV movie, maybe slightly worse. I suspect Stanley Johnson's source novel wasn't quite so bland as this by the numbers conspiracy tale in which all the bad guys are one-dimensional, and shadowy figures are constantly bumping off inconvenient characters without the police or press having much to say. There's the usual crusading journalist, who is brought in to report some internet research he's done but nobody else thought to do to advance the plot. And what a strange plot too: the Euro industry commissioner becomes a patsy in a business war, engineering a chain of events that leads to the near destruction of the European chemical industry, with the impression given this is somehow heroic rather than an enormous error, caused it seems by his naivety. On the way to this point, there's a lot of rotten dialogue that seems the stamp of these co-productions; somebody actually says the following: "I have no doubt that recent events have proved beyond any doubt that...". It would have been good to explain somewhere what a European commissioner is and what he does, since there's no evidence the hero does anything but work on this one issue and tell his secretary to tell a phone caller that he'll call back. A somewhat ill worked out subplot regarding the hero's relationship with his wife and a sexy fellow commissioner is daffy because from early in the film Morton is portrayed as a serial womaniser. It's not really clear whether he falls in love with the other commissioner or what she sees in him, and the wife very conveniently disappears from the scene. The whole thing seems very poorly made: the camera seems to repeatedly be on the wrong person, music swelling up at the wrong times, dialogue often inaudible, clear continuity howlers, etc. It's not often you notice the costume designer, but I found the use of scarves very over the top. I also thought it was needlessly slow: at one point Morton asks someone if they want a drink, then the camera watches him disappear out the room while he makes it, brings it back and gives it to her...John Hurt is poor casting for the key role - his James Morton doesn't seem a good or creative administrator, he's not sexy, a bit old school Tory in his attitudes particularly towards women to be successful in Europe, and rather petulant when things go wrong. He only seems to come alive when he's screaming and swearing at someone - he is admittedly very good at that. He's not the only strange casting: one wonders whose idea it was to have Alice Krige pretending to be American, presumably for the US market, or Alan MacNaughton as a German - both very good actors but British. But Morton should have been a career politician who finds himself becoming committed to a cause, discovering integrity, and repairing or clarifying his relationship with his wife - without this central arc the film is lifeless, and it's not clear whether Morton is any different at the end of the film than the beginning.The whole thing was made in Britain, Germany and Belgium. It must have been a good few months work for all concerned.

zensixties The Commissioner is a great film starring John Hurt as the British Commissioner of Industry in the EU. His acting as usual is intensely engrossing as Commissioner Morton uncovers industrial corruption on a grand scale. But wait, which company is the most corrupt? And who is responsible for all the killings? Is Armin Mueller-Stahl really a company man who came in from the cold? Complex plot with many twists, and if you can follow it you have my admiration.But at heart this film's significance lies in its forceful stance against big industry. You'll never question the validity of the WTO protestors again.

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