This is a solid entry in the cozy mystery genre, albeit a little more edgy in a few places than your standard 1960’s BBC fare. It plays out like any other Agatha Christie story and although I can’t add much more without spoiling the mystery, I can safely say it’s one of the best Miss Marple mysteries I’ve seen.
Closest comparison: It’s like Sunset Boulevard by way of the BBC cozy mysteries.
Setting: Town Drama
Plot: Cozy Mystery
Tone: BBC TeleDrama
This movie is not the high action one man army movie that it may seem on the surface. Remo gets the elite training, sure, but he bumbles his way through most of the fights. It’s a campy, fun family B-movie that has enough heart to pull it through the rougher low quality production patches. Some will be turned off of this movie by the white actor playing an old Korean man done up to look and act Chinese, but it’s in the upper half of this film’s well done to poorly done spectrum. And if that sentence doesn’t agree with you, maybe skip this one.
Closest comparison: It’s like Person of Interest by way of The Karate Kid (1984).
Setting: Adventure
Plot: Zero to Hero
Tone: Espionage
This movie is a lighthearted approach to the cold war spy genre that maintains a sense of humor through all the chicanery and multi-cross goings-on. It’s competently made and a refreshing return to the cold war defector assistance plots that have become less relevant after 1989, but whose stories are still compelling in their own right. It’s interesting enough to keep the audience’s attention but it’s also shallow enough to quickly become forgettable.
Closest comparison: It’s like Munich (2005) by way of The Italian Job (1969)
Setting: Spy
Plot: Thriller
Tone: Dry Comedy
