paul2001sw-1
Joseph Conrad's novel, 'The Secret Agent', is justly acclaimed, a compact and bitter satire nominally about anarchist terrorism but in fact about the wretchedness of the human condition: while ordinary people labour and suffer, we talk about principles and love but will in reality sacrifice anything for an easy life. With hardly a superfluous word, it could easily be adapted into a 90 minute film; but this adaptation lasts three hours, and is slow-paced and boring. Not only that, but the padding serves to undermine the original purpose to no beneficial effect. One of the great characters in the book is the Professor, an extremist (with all the best lines) who asserts he will give everything for the cause, even down to blowing himself up with a bomb he carries on his person at all times should the police come to arrest him. But no actual cause is ever sufficiently revolutionary to earn the Professor's support, and as we see when he is confronted by the stupid, cowardly policeman Heat, his supposed willingness to cause carnage is sufficiently strong to ensure that no-one is ever likely to put him to the test. But in this adaptation, Heat is brave and humane, and he confronts the Professor only for the Professor's bomb to fail to explode when he tries to detonate it, developments that completely miss the point. It's a particular shame to see the usually excellent Vicky McClure stilted and unable to save the story. Sometimes it seems as if those responsible for adapting a story have utterly failed to understand what it is really about; and this series is one such example.
Russ Smith
Finished watching the last episode last night and what a bleak ending!I though the whole cast were fantastic, Toby Jones can do little wrong for me, (Detectorists is just about my favourite comedy ever), and he played the hapless, hopeless, desperate and cowardly Verloc brilliantly. Stephen Graham was wonderful in the role of the sympathetic but hard-nosed Inspector Heat. Vicky McClure as the loyal, trusting Winnie was brilliant too. I don't care about who did what accent or whether it was accurate to Joseph Conrad's book, it just worked for me. Yes it's very dark and has an extremely bleak ending but I found this refreshing. There is no happy ending where the good guys win or a moral tale that leaves you feeling good about yourself! It's a gritty, realistic story of desperate people trying to survive and succeed in a terrible situation. Loved it.
Tweekums
This three part drama is centred on Mr. Verloc; a member of a group of anarchists living in London. For the most part they are an ineffectual bunch; they talk a lot but don't actually do anything. Verloc is actually a spy in the pay of Russia and Russia believes that Britain's response to the anarchists has been far too gentle. Hoping to force Britain to adopt a tougher position the Russian First Secretary pressures Verloc to take real action
he wants him to bomb the Greenwich Observatory. To this end Verloc works with fellow anarchist 'The Professor', who makes the bomb before heading out with his autistic brother-in-law on the mission that can only end in tragedy. Before the explosion the police, most notably Inspector Heat, think the anarchists are a bunch of harmless losers but afterwards they are determined to find out who was behind it and expose their backers.Having not read the book I can't say how this adaption compares but as a piece of television I found it rather enjoyable
if distinctly bleak. Toby Jones does a great job as Verloc; a distinctly unlikable protagonist who can't accept that he is to blame for the tragic event midway through the series. He is ably supported by Vicky McClure, who plays his wife, and excels in the final tragic episode. Stephen Graham impresses as Inspector Heat; the only authority figure who doesn't seem to be self-serving. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Given the age of the original story this feels remarkably fresh; its themes of terrorist plots seem just as relevant today. The story is well told and thankfully the creators didn't decide to provide a happy ending. Overall this was a solid, if somewhat downbeat, story; it won't be for everybody but I rather enjoyed it.
question65
(Contains spoiler of first episode.!!)Toby Jones!! Excellent mystery era! Nice looking women! Spies and bowler hats! Sounds great huh? Well not for the first episode.So you're introduced to the life of a man who is a spy. His wife, her mother. an autistic young man. and the spy's contact. You're told that he is being basically blackmailed by his boss to not just be a spy that delivers info, but to cause commotion by planting a bomb in a public place. If he does not, he will be a target for anyone who would want the spies gone. By the will of his boss, publicly showing that He is on Their payroll...That's it. That's about the extent of interesting things. after this moment there is a odd mix of unexplained emotional outbursts, dull conversations, bickering between contacts, weird random naked photography in the shop, the mother moves out and the autistic boy is basically the only logical person in it.I had to drink two cups of coffee and entertain myself on my phone just to even hear this episode out.It's easy to point the finger and say its simply beyond me, its too deep or something. But the thing is, these kind of movies (preferrably far from the spoon-feeding American touch) is my kind of thing. But this here....? Verly poorly constructed. Its like it copied famous series and scenes, but didn't quite understand and grasp the reasoning behind their successes.
AD
