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Spy-Fi: The New Trend?

GNC said:
Of course, he was also in true-life horror tale Jungle, which was very gruesome, only missing the odd bit of disgust (e.g. in real life the victim slid down an embankment and in the fall a branch was rammed straight up his bottom).
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Expellianus!
 
No mention of Archer? They got cyborgs and stuff.
 
American Assassin: Revenge thriller involving Jihadis, rogue Iranian Generals, rogue US Agents, a bereaved Dylan O'Brien and a rough grizzled CIA veteran Michael Keaton. O'Brien's fiance is killed during an Islamist attack on a holiday resort, swearing vengeance he trains for the next year and pretends to be a jihadi sympathiser with the intent of killing a leader. He is being interrogated by the islamists who are a bit suspicious of him when a Seal team bursts in and slaughters the jihadis. In spite of all of their Spy-Fi tech it was only through monitoring O'Brien that they were able to track the Islamist leader. CIA chief Sanaa Lathan then recruits O'Brien and Keaton trains him for an upcoming operation.

There is much observation here, everything is on a camera/screen somewhere but not always at the right time, tracking devices don't always work, the more sophistication the more things which may go wrong. It is very much a tale of the murky smoke and mirrors of the intelligence world where strange alliances may be formed and broken. Training of O'Brien, his maverick nature and his relationship to Keaton are central to the film. Piecing together a nuclear device, getting the plutonium, trigger device and an experienced physicist also provides an interesting sequence.

A competent Techno-Thriller. 7.5/10. On Netflix.
 
Another example of a successful book series turned into a flop movie that infuriates the fans by ignoring the source. Plus it's pretty humourless and boring.
 
GNC said:
Another example of a successful book series turned into a flop movie that infuriates the fans by ignoring the source. Plus it's pretty humourless and boring.
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I beg to differ, it's not a bundle of laughs but imho its certainly not boring. Also while not a hit (only grossed twice production costs) it probably broke even on vid and tv sales.
 
ramonmercado said:
I beg to differ, it's not a bundle of laughs but imho its certainly not boring. Also while not a hit (only grossed twice production costs) it probably broke even on vid and tv sales.
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Since it's been rescued by Netflix, it probably will make a profit now. But the whole Muslims are evil plot didn't even have the courage of its dubious convictions when the big baddie at the end was a white guy former US associate of the hero (who was seriously miscast).
 
GNC said:
Since it's been rescued by Netflix, it probably will make a profit now. But the whole Muslims are evil plot didn't even have the courage of its dubious convictions when the big baddie at the end was a white guy former US associate of the hero (who was seriously miscast).
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That was at the start of the film and such attacks on holiday resorts have taken place. The film also showed how a muslim who might never have gone beyond mouthing off was entrapped by the FBI who provided him with all of the gear necessary to organise a terrorist attack. Yes, the main villain was white and an ex SEAL, and the Iranian baddies were rogue officers and politicians who opposed the nuclear deal, which reflects reality in Iran.
 
https://www.fishpond.com/Books/Vorpal-Blade-Colin-Forbes/9780743440356

The Vorpal Blade by Colin Forbes. This was Forbes at the height of his unique craft: a chain of fiendish murders by beheading erupt on an international arena, spark the involvement of the Secret Intelligence Service lead by Tweed with Paula Grey playing a lead role, an eccentric super-rich banking family somehow involved and a top level conspiracy to prevent further investigation - in which the potential vice president of the U.S.A seems to be mixed up. All set against the picturesque backdrop of mountainous Switzerland and served up with a spooky ambience. The suspense! The glamour!

`Colin Forbes has done it again...or did it again in 2001, anyway. This is liquid Spy-fi, and I've got Spy-Fi pie all over my shirt! Available in all good dusty old second hand bookshops in the provincial towns of the UK. Call yourself a Fortean, and you're sitting there without a copy? You ****!`

Mr Z.Newbold,( in an undisclosed part of Moscow).
 
Sicario: Day of the Soldado:Dark Spy-Fi. Josh brolin is back fighting cross border smugglers but this time jihadis are being trafficked across the border. Tracked by helicopters one man breaks off from a group of border crossers and blows himself up. Three suicide bombers blow themselves up in a uS supermarket. Conveniently three prayer mats are found at the US-Mexican border The gloves are off as Brolin doesn't torture traffickers from the Gulf, he calls down drone strikes on their families, Benicio Del Toro also returns with a free hand to act against the cartels. Targeted assassinations set competing cartels at each others throats. Shootings, bombings, kidnappings.

Surveillance is omnipresent from drones, security cameras, hidden micro bugs.there is nothing that Brolin and Del Tro will not do to advance their agenda but these are Black Ops and they are acting as independent (deniable) contractors even though their HQ is a Naval airbase. The agenda of their bosses can swiftly alter though in this world of smoke and mirrors and Brolin is told "the narrative has changed". Del Toro forms an attachment to a teenage kidnap victim, Isabela Moner, she is rekidnapped from Brolin by rogue Mexican police and DelToro rescues her. A bond is formed which surpasses any duty yo follow orders.

A tale of war in the murky universe of counter-terrorism and the fight against the cartels where loyalties are challenged and truth is impossible to discern. 8.5/10.
 
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
 
ramonmercado said:
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
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Is this a reimagining of the old Edward Woodward series?
 
ramonmercado said:
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
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If he was white he'd have three Oscars by now.
 
He has played the same character in all the movies I've seen him in.
 
Mile 22: Overwatch is a Strike Team within the CIA which carries out extra special missions. Mark Wahlberg is their operational leader while John Malkovich is Mother: he leads the home team, providing oversight and technical assistance which is a tad beyond the norm. Mile 22 contains many of the SpyFi tropes: Mother's team take over CCTV systems, traffic lights, power systems, provide eyes from above through drones and of course missiles from above. The heart beat, blood pressure and oxygen levels of each Overwatch field operative is monitored in real time.

The film opens with the team taking out a Russian Intelligence safehouse in the US. A mission which swiftly moves from capture to kill as resistance is encountered. Overwatch is totally ruthless and kills unarmed, wounded prisoners. 16 months later Overwatch are in a South-East Asian capital, Wahlberg's colleague Lauren Cohen is running an agent, Iko Uwais, within the local police Special Forces, information he supplies regarding the transport of stolen Caesium is inaccurate but he comes to the US embassy seeking sanctuary. The country's Deputy Foreign Minister along with an Intelligence chief demand that he be returned. Simultaneously an attempt is made to kill Iko by 2 assassins but he ends up dispatching them. He convinces Wahlberg and Mother that he has information regarding the stolen Caesium but only if he is given sanctuary in the US.

A race to meet up with an exfiltration plane at Mile 22 then ensues and the team come under attack from local security services. A mysterious Russian Spy-plane assists in the attack on overwatch. The choreography of the fight scenes is stunning. Gun battles, hand to hand knife and martial arts clashes and a sequence of running battles through an apartment complex which is reminiscent of The Raid. No quarter is given as the casualties mount. Car and motorbike chases par excellence also take place.

This espionage thriller directed by Peter Berg and written by Lea Carpenter is far better than many reviews would suggest. It moves in the smoke and mirrors world of Intelligence agencies and not everything is as it appears on a surface level. You will encounter some surprises as the film reaches it climax. 8/10.
 
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The Girl in the Spider's Web: Hacker Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) has returned, an avenging angel (in one scene a statues wings seem to literally grow out of her back), beating up men who abuse their female partners. The activities of this Angelo Morte are not appreciated by the Swedish Police. Lisbeth is hired by an ex-NSA contractor Balder (Stephen Merchant) to steal Firefall, a program capable of accessing the world’s nuclear codes that he developed for the National Security Agency. She succeeds in doing so but comes under attack, barely surviving and the program is stolen.

It quickly becomes obvious that a criminal organisation is behind the attack, one led by her estranged sister Camilla (Sylvia hoeks). An NSA agent, Needham (LaKeith Stanfield) traces Lisbeth's hack to Stockholm where he soon comes into conflict with Grane (Synnove Macody) a Swedish Security Service official. The hunt is on for Salander who the authorities believe still has Firefall. Lisbeth reaches out to journalist Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) for assistance.

A sequel and partial reboot sees more of Lisbeth's past revealed, how she escaped from her family and the grudges which her sister has held for years. Blomkvist also still carries a torch for Lisbeth even though he hasn't seen her for three years and it affects his ability to work and maintain relationships. Lisbeth herself also seems unhappy in some aspects of her life but proud of her role as the vigilante hacker. The tensions generated by these links takes the film way beyond the James Bond type thriller that some critics have styled it as. This bisexual Jemima Bond is far more complex a human being than the dour Scot even if the program title Firefall is suggestive of a 007 movie.

Car chases, secret hideouts, extreme violence and death-defying escapes including a wonderful motorbike ride across a frozen river do add the the techno-thriller strands of the film. As indeed does the constant surveillance, the hacking of cctv systems; the placing of cameras by Lisbeth herself is crucial at several points in moving the plot forward. Balders son August (Christopher Convery) in echoes of Mercury Rising holds the key to resolving some complications.

Director (and co-writer) Fede Alvarez has delivered a superior Conspiracy-Techno-Thriller in which Claire Foy proves herself as no ordinary action hero. 8/10.
 
If anything it's the return of a very old trend.

A lot of spy films and series in the 1960s and 1970s were very much in the spy-fi vein. I'm thinking of the Emma Peel/Tara King eras of the Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Department S, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Champions, The Prisoner, The Satan Bug, Fantastic Voyage and even some of the earliest Bonds.

In fact it could go back to the 1940s and 1950s with Dick Barton: Special Agent and contemporaries which feature various kinds of death rays which foreign powers are keen to wield. It's literally a Death Ray in the film In Dick Barton At Bay, While in the earlier Dick Barton Strikes Back it's a sonic weapon which diabolical masterminds have installed in the Blackpool Tower, using it as giant tuning fork.

Going back further many of the serials from Universal, Republic and RKO had spy-fi elements with government agents facing off against criminal gangs with sci-fi like weapons which they have either stolen or a mad scientist figurehead has developed.
 
Dick Barton Strikes Back is such an enjoyable film. Probably ripped off a bit from Bela Lugosi in Chandu the Magician, but nevertheless, a top bit of British pulp fiction.
 
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