The Worst Film Ever

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Good political thrillers demand sharp wits from filmmakers and audience alike, and here's a case in point: a competent, complex, and all too plausible fiction exposing the invisible machine at work behind top-level government affairs, set in England but perhaps even more relevant to audiences on this side of the Atlantic. Gabriel Byrne stars as an ambitious Fleet Street reporter following another unremarkable Ministry sex scandal, who finds his life in sudden jeopardy when his investigation begins to touch on some highly sensitive matters of national security. The scenario combines all the best elements of investigative journalism with the worst aspects of Realpolitik expediency: treachery, paranoia, and corruption (in short, all the things that make governments work). The atmosphere is sinister and the plotting appropriately elliptical (but never too hard to follow); only the sudden, downbeat ending looks artificial.

Beginning with the later years of the Cold War and extending to this very day, there has been this question about the enemies of a nation: are the ones within more dangerous then the external ones? This question has produced quite a few intriguing thrillers over the years and one such is Defence Of The Realm from 1986. This film looks at that question from the perspective of late Cold War UK politics and in turn presents a realistic yet tense thriller in the process.The film has a fine cast of some of the UK's best actors and character actors of the time. Leading the cast is Gabriel Byrne as reporter Nick Mullen who finds himself writing one story and then follows a trail of breadcrumbs that leads him to discovering he has in fact been used. That trail of breadcrumbs belongs to Mullen's colleague and mentor of sorts Vernon Bayliss in a BAFTA winning performance from Denholm Elliott who makes the most of a small part. Helping Mullen is Greta Scacchi as Nina Beckman, the assistant to a Parliament member (played by Ian Bannen) caught up in the events. They are aided by Bill Paterson as Mullen immediate boss and opposed by David Calder as the newspaper's editor and Fulton Mackay as the owner of the newspaper Mullen works for. Also in a small role is an early appearance from Robbie Coltrane as a fellow reporter in a few scenes. The result is that the film is well anchored by a fine cast.The film is helped out by the realism of the production values. This is especially true of the production design of Roger Murray-Leach who, working with what was likely a small budget, nonetheless created a whole plethora of sets ranging from newsrooms to a U.S Air Force base before taking us inside the secret halls of the government. Roger Deakins cinematography gives the film a sense of claustrophobia at all times even when the film ventures into wide open spaces. The result of this is amplified by the editing of Michael Bradsell and the score from Richard Harvey to create an almost continuous sense of menace throughout the film. All this comes together under the direction of David Drury to give the film a strong sense of realism.The production values though take that realism from the script by Martin Stellman. The script looks at the question mentioned in this review's opening and does so through the lens of late Cold War Britain. At a time when Cold War tensions were increasing and a good deal of the public clamored for the government to do something about it, the film looks at how far a government and its national security apparatus might go to prevent a scandal that could bring about just that. What appears to be just another sex scandal involving a high ranking member of the British Parliament who has ties to the Defence establishment ( that is itself is highly reminiscent of the 1963 Profumo affair) might in fact be covering up something that seems completely unrelated: a police chase of two escaped teenage prisoners that accidentally crossed over onto a U.S Air Force base sometime before. The script takes Mullen and those he encounters on a journey into the secret workings of the British government. As it reaches it climax the film asks an important question: when does a government's ability to protect secrets cross the line into becoming something much more darker, threatening and even criminal? By combining a fine cast, production values and a fine script Defence Of The Realm is able to create a realistic yet tense thriller. While it may be set and more or less about late Cold War UK politics, the film asks questions that are relevant today. All of these elements come together to make Defence Of The Realm far more then just another thriller and ever watchable nearly twenty-five years on from its original release.

Pretty standard Left - Wing anti - American propaganda that would have delighted the Wimmin of Greenham Common as they rested between throwing condoms full of urine at the police and hanging used tampons on the fences.Borstal absconder escaping from Old Bill(so its all their fault) enters USAF base and gets squashed by a plane carrying nuclear weapons. Nearly a nasty accident then,and it's kept secret from those guardians of all that's decent and proper - the newspapers. Whilst spying on a philandering M.P.,those self - same guardians etc, etc, etc,stumble upon a possible scandal involving the aforementioned non - event. Screaming with self - righteous indignation,the gentlemen of the press proceed to ignore "D" notices (an event which could have put the editor in prison)and carry out an investigation, careless of its affect,concerned only about increased circulation("We've sold an extra 200,000 copies" smiles odious Newspaper owner Fulton Mckay). It all ends in tears - obviously - and the S.I.S. is shown to be the running dog of the Imperialist Americans,equally obviously. Only Denholm Elliott rings true as the veteran reporter who,to his indignation,is "outed" as a former communist by one of his colleagues "I left The Party in 1956!",he seethes.(For many British Communists,the Russian suppression of Hungary in that year marked a loss of faith). Mr Elliott as the only sympathetic character in the whole movie is clearly marked for an early departure and he is seen off with almost indecent haste after his room is broken into by the S.I.S. running dogs. Gabriel Byrne seems to have settled for "faintly worried" when "seriously concerned" or "raving mad" might have done better. "Defence of the Realm" appears to have been written by the sort of people who spent most Sundays in the early 80s shuffling along the embankment shouting "Maggie,Maggie,Maggie out,out,out!"In spite of all their efforts the Tories stayed in power until 1997 and then Tony Blair came along and proved to be even more of an Imperialist running dog,a poodle of the Great Satan.Life's a bitch eh guys?

Gabriel Byrne stars in "Defence of the Realm," a 1985 film also starring Denholm Elliott, Greta Scacchi, Ian Bannen and Robbie Coltrane. Byrne plays Mullen, an aggressive newsman who is responsible for a story leading to the downfall of a Parliament member - he was seen leaving a madam's house, as was a KGB agent. However, he soon learns that there's much more to the story than that and that the man has been set up because he knew to much.This is a very good story with handsome Byrne heading up an excellent cast of foreign faces that will be very familiar to Americans. All of the acting is good, with a standout performance by Denholm Elliott. The beautiful Greta Scacchi, an asset to any production, is totally wasted here, however.What I liked best about this, and many other British films, is that you have to pay attention - first of all, so that your ears can adjust to the sound of not only the accents but also adjust to the way the British allow room tone to mix in with the dialogue, which we're not used to here. It gives the atmosphere a much more realistic flavor.Worth seeing.