Common Sense Note
This is a sexually frank, profane, and unglamorously corrupt movie that's not particularly appropriate for teens; parental supervision is a must if you watch with your older teen.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Ellen MacKay
It is perhaps a relief to encounter an espionage thriller that doesn't involve simple and reductive notions of good guys and bad guys. In this movie, there are no Matrix-like kung fu action sequences, and the only gadget on display is the ludicrously low-tech lighter that doubles as a camera. England's elite spy squadron, MI-6, is just a posh office building in which employees struggle to get the biggest cut of the company profits to pad their pensions. And despite the fact that arms-dealing and drug-trafficking are everywhere in Panama (the canal is the key to American trade, especially of the illicit kind) no one, from the CIA to the diplomatic corps to the Panamanian government, really cares.
But in this moral vacuum, it's also hard to find a reason to care about the lead players. Osnard is so despicable that it's impossible to enjoy his conquests. And while the movie claims that Harry is pathologically dishonest out of a loyalty to his old crook of an uncle (who appears in disconcerting and poorly explained hallucinations) and his love for his family, he carries on an affair with his receptionist. He also does his best to topple his wife's career by photographing her confidential documents (she is the Panamanian president's advisor on the canal). This kind of family man we could all do without.
In this world without heroes, it's the savvy but secondary women who wind up cleaning up the messes left by their men. One only wishes they were the ones who walked off into the sunset with the suitcase full of CIA cash.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentA scene takes place in a bordello with pornography showing in the background; tawdry sex scenes take place between Osnard and a diplomat; the Tailor's wife is shown topless several times and is groped by Osnard. |
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ViolenceAll violence is shown in flashback -- some war crimes. Brief gore. A washed-up revolutionary drunkenly accosts drug-dealers and money-launderers at a club. He later commits suicide and we see his corpse; in flashback Panamanian citizens are attacked by |
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LanguageLiberal use of extreme obscenities. |
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Social BehaviorHispanic characters are secondary in this story, but come off as a complex and diverse population; Osnard is a sexual predator and stalks women constantly--his appraisal of their body parts is (intentionally) offensive. Some crude humor. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrug trafficking and drinking. |
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