Very disappointed :(

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Oh Dear. When I noticed Caine's name in the credits as Executive producer I must admit my suspicions were aroused. What we have here is an example of outdated,cranky, clichéd, predictable Eighties Cold War nonsense rendered totally irrelevant by the historical events of the last 30 years and by the slick, modern spy thrillers of the last 10-15 years. My interest in the movie was only held by the presence in the cast of a pre-Bond Pearce Brosnan, the yummy, gorgeous Joanna Cassidy in her absolute 80s red-headed prime, and of course Caine himself, giving a great performance as the relentless, loyal, middle-aged MI5 operative (and surprisingly, apparently devoted father)Preston, determined to thwart a terrorist nuclear catastrophe in London, despite the efforts of his devious public school, anal Ox-bridge superiors to discredit him.

The Fourth Protocol in a nuclear treaty forbids unconventional nuclear weapons. Major Valeri Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) is assigned by KGB head General Govorshin to infiltrate the United Kingdom and set off a nuclear device next to an American base disguised as an American accident. Borisov (Ned Beatty) informs his friend General Karpov who starts looking into the secret operation. MI5 officer John Preston (Michael Caine) is a top British counter-espionage operator. His brash unorthodox methods rub the acting-Director Brian Harcourt-Smith wrong, and is relegated to airports and ports. He encounters the case of a dead courier delivering a nuclear device component.This is a second tier level espionage movie. Brosnan is good as a freezing cold spy and Caine is fine as the operative. It's a fine movie existing somewhere below the best of the genre. It doesn't have the gritty realism of the best murky spy mysteries. The limited action is fine but not good enough to be an exciting action thriller.

We all know Freric Forsyth supposedly wrote great thrillers. Sadly I'm not sure this is the case in this instance. There were too many moments in the film where I wanted to say "what? that's never going to happen!!" Point in fact would be expecting everyone to believe that there was a nuclear accident in a housing estate.At 1.5kTon, it's only a small bomb. They say in the film the crater will only be "2 mile across" so investigators will rumble a rat strait up. Then assembling fissile material with out a containment or even protective clothing?? your kidding me right?Also the premise that an atom bomb will go off by mistake. Atom bombs are incredibly difficult to explode unless you get stuff to happen just right. So that is a plot fault for starters. Sheesh...I liked the ideas that all the agent managers were self serving prats, though Forsyth's portrayal of all the Russian characters as cold automatons is a bit dated, probably even by 1987 cold war standard. Michael Cain doing his best "Micheal Cain" is well worth a star or two though.A final thought... Mr Mackenzie, if you are going to show a woman with magnificent breasts topless, allow her to sit or stand in the shot. Large breasts prone do not do them selves any justice at all.a.

My personal view is that Caines interpretation of the character made TFP one of his best films to date, it reflected the Forsythes hero very acurately and was easily the best performance of the film. Again, my view is that the film was grossly under rated by the critics at the time and even today stands up well among films of this type. Well worth watching even today.