Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer) passes along a manuscript intended for minor publisher boozy Barley Blair (Sean Connery). It contains three notebooks from Dante (Klaus Maria Brandauer) showing Russian military secrets and their inferiority. Dante had meet Barley earlier during a party where they connected. British agent Ned (James Fox) and CIA Russell (Roy Scheider) lead the effort to make contact with Dante and determine the validity of the information.
This movie does get a good sense of a period of time in Russia. What is truly missing is a sense of tension. There isn't enough danger for Barley. He's not getting killed. At most, the Americans put a little pressure on him but the problem is that he doesn't care. Like he says, he's not selling them the Picasso. He's really just the delivery boy transporting the Picasso. I struggle to figure out what the danger is for Barley. Obviously, the danger is higher for Katya. I love Michelle Pfeiffer but her Russian accent annoyed me. Also there is little chemistry between her and Sean Connery. Her motives are questionable and he's just an old dude after a hot young thing.
The most interesting relationship in this movie is between Ned and Russell. They have to decide whether this is real or not. Also they have to run the plan. Their positions are on the line which elevates the danger level for them. It seems to me that there is an easy solution to the questions falling into the wrong hands. They could add other questions to the list. While there are interesting aspects to this movie, there is a dangerous lack of tension.
This movie does get a good sense of a period of time in Russia. What is truly missing is a sense of tension. There isn't enough danger for Barley. He's not getting killed. At most, the Americans put a little pressure on him but the problem is that he doesn't care. Like he says, he's not selling them the Picasso. He's really just the delivery boy transporting the Picasso. I struggle to figure out what the danger is for Barley. Obviously, the danger is higher for Katya. I love Michelle Pfeiffer but her Russian accent annoyed me. Also there is little chemistry between her and Sean Connery. Her motives are questionable and he's just an old dude after a hot young thing.
The most interesting relationship in this movie is between Ned and Russell. They have to decide whether this is real or not. Also they have to run the plan. Their positions are on the line which elevates the danger level for them. It seems to me that there is an easy solution to the questions falling into the wrong hands. They could add other questions to the list. While there are interesting aspects to this movie, there is a dangerous lack of tension.