Spy-Fi: The New Trend?

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The Recruit: a rookie lawyer, Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) gets a job in the CIA's General Counsel's Office. As the newbie gray mail files are dumped on him. These are communications in which people threaten to expose CIA activities. One letter from a prisoner seems genuine enough and he is soon caught up in covert ops and criminal activities in a bid to secure the release of the prisoner, Max Meladza (Laura Haddock) a former CIA asset, who had been abandoned. Some in the CIA see the ex-asset as having future potential. Others want to have her eliminated. Several people have secrets which they don't want exposed. The action moves from the US to the Middle East and back, them onwards to Prague and Minsk, involving various intelligence agencies and criminal organisation (difficult to tell them apart at times). Plenty of savage killings, torture gore and duplicity. Just as well the series is infused with a thread of dark humour to leaven the narrative. Great performances from Haddock and Centineo. Created and Co-Written by Alexi Hawley. Eight episodes on Netflix. 8.5/10.

 

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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One: A tale of great adventures, fights in and on trains, car chases, mororbike chases, paragliding and parachuting. What makes this MI different is the villain - a rogue Artificial intelligence! Naturally there usual smoke and mirrors stuff and CIA chiefs once again being corrupt/too clever for their own good so Tom Cruise and his team also have to go rogue. The AI becomes sentient when it is transmitted to a Russian Submarine, subverting the aI on board that and fusing with it to create the new Rogue AI. The quest for the keys which will help to destroy this AI provides the heart of this narrative. Great fun, looking forward to part two. 8/10. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen.

In cinemas.

 

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I think this just about fits here.

The Equaliser 2: Denzel Washington is back as The Equaliser. It's not easy being a nice vigilante, you take a job as a taxi-driver to get away from being an assassin but but ordinary people bring their troubles to you. You help without being asked. An intern is abused by executives, they end up regretting calling a certain cab to take her home. Denzel rescues the daughter of a bookshop owner who has been snatched by her gangster father. Those are the easy jobs.

In Brussels a a double murder is made to look like a murder/suicide; a friend of Washington's goes to investigate and is also murdered. Now it's personal. We enter the smoke and mirrors world of intelligence agencies and private contractors , even assassination is privatised these days. More of Washington's past is revealed as he meets up with some of his old team from the Black Ops days.

The Equaliser is almost a Marvel Superhero, when not using a gun, knife or his bare hands to kill he can always turn a teapot or a credit card into a deadly weapon. In the background a storm is approaching and it's force build as the film heads towards it's conclusion. As well as his other involvements Washington finds time to help out a WW2 Death Camp Survivor and a talented young art student who is drawn into gang involvement. There was one scene which almost brought tears to the eyes of this hardened old cynic. Antoine Fuqua directs and doesn't drop a single strand in this complex thriller. 8/10

The Equalizer 3: McCall (Denzel Washington) is back, we find him in a wine cellar in Sicily, surrounded by dead bodies, held at gunpoint by two mafiosi until teir boss arrives with a sidekick. All four of them are soon dead, McCall being inventive, shoving a gun barrel of obne crook's eye and shooting through the back of his head, We';; have to wait a while for flashbacks to see hoe he killed the others and why hr was there in the first place. But he finds drugs associated with ISIS. Soon the CIA are involved including Dakota Fanning as an agent newly sent from a desk job to the field.

A wounded McCall is nursed back to health by a Doctor in a small town (shades of Jason Bourne) near Naples. He takes to the town and ir;s inhabitants but the Camorra are extorting money from local businesses and their main branch in Naples want to take over the town to build a resort. Of course they come into conflict with McCall, All of the strands tie together eventually with a few surprises and plot twists along the way. A tale of terrorism, drug dealing, the Camorra, police corruption and parts of McCall's history and sense of obligation. Bloody, violent, once again MCCalli's more akin to a Superhero than an ordinary assassin but his violence sometimes pales in comparison to that use on ordinary people by the Camorra and ISIS. A gripping film maintaining the tension even when McCall is at peace in the small town. (This is the final film in the series but there has been talk about a prequel regarding McCall's origins.) Directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by Richard Wenk. 8/10.

In cinemas.

 

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Heart of the Hunter: South African Political Corruption/Conspiracy Thriller in which turned government intelligence agencies make use of all of the myriad surveillance assets at their disposal. Refreshingly the main villain isn't white, in fact you have to teach the third tier of the conspiracy to find a white leader though many of the field agents are a lighter shade of pale. Some savage hand to hand fighting, car chases and generally the sort of thrills and spills you'd expect from this genre. The conspiracy is a bit more sophisticated though even if the main crook is a tad in OTT in his portrayal. There is also an interesting secret group of assassins. certainly worth watching.Directed by Mandla Dube, Written by Deon Meyer and Willem Grobler. On Netflix. 6.5/10.