Our Flick of the Week is ”The Fourth Protocol,” which comes across as the Michael Caine ”spy film of the week.” Once again, as with last week`s
”The Whistle Blower,” Caine stars as a member of the British intelligence service.
This time he`s out to stop a Russian agent (Pierce Brosnan) from assembling a nuclear bomb designed to destroy an American military base in London as well as Anglo-American relations.
Based on a novel by best-selling author Frederick Forsyth, ”The Fourth Protocol” is full of seemingly inside information about the techniques of spies. And although the film rarely develops as much sustained tension as the adaptation of Forsyth`s ”The Day of the Jackal,” ”The Fourth Protocol”
does have Caine as an anchor of credibility as well as solid performances as Russian agents by Joanna Cassidy and Brosnan, who looks here like he would have made a fine James Bond.
”The Fourth Protocol” is playing at the Esquire and outlying theaters. Rated R. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Flicks Picks guide
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New this week
– HAMBURGER HILL (Dearborn, Water Tower and outlying). After ”Platoon”
and ”Full Metal Jacket,” we are pretty much wrung out by the suffering of Vietnam soldiers. Therefore, it`s no small accomplishment if we develop any reaction at all to this formula war film. That we do in a few small scenes has to do with the effectiveness of individual actors with fresh faces who allow us to believe that they are truly in jeopardy in a re-creation of one of Vietnam`s most vicious battles to capture a single hill. A better film on the same subject: Stanley Kubrick`s ”Paths of Glory.” R. (STAR)(STAR)