The Fourth Protocol ** (1987, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Joanna Cassidy, Ned Beatty) – Classic Movie Review 8170

Director John Mackenzie’s 1987 thriller The Fourth Protocol is based on a novel by Frederick Forsyth, and stars Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Joanna Cassidy and Ned Beatty.

Brosnan and Caine play super-smooth spy Valeri Petrofsky / aka James Edward Ross (Brosnan) and down-to-earth British agent spy-catcher John Preston (Caine), who engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse, in this slightly weary, old-fashioned adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s Cold War bestseller.

Brosnan plays a Soviet agent sent to an East Anglian aircraft base to destabilise the nuclear balance of power by detonating a nuclear explosion next to the American base in the UK and of course British agent Caine is the man to stop him.

The support cast is high class and the direction is efficient enough, but there is a lack of tension and surprise in this creaky, antique-style spy movie and it feels like a film that is going through the motions rather than one that really excites, watchable though it is.

Also in the cast are Michael Gough, Julian Glover, Betsy Brantley, Ray McAnally, Ian Richardson, Anton Rodgers, Caroline Blakiston, Joseph Brady, Matt Frewer, John Horsley, Jerry Harte, Rosy Clayton, Peter Cartwright and Sean Chapman.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8170

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