SIFF Review: The Spy and the Sparrow
This woeful local feature can't decide if it wants to be As the World Turns or The Bourne Identity, those being the chief influences, respectively, on its plot and camera work. Retired CIA agent Thomas Sparrow (David Rasche, from the SIFF-opening In the Loop) hasn't seen his daughter in 26 years. Why? Not very clear, especially when Pioneer Square doubles for East Berlin in flashback. Sparrow returns to Seattle to spy on his daughter (Elisabeth Röhm, the lesbian ADA on Law & Order), and the picture ain't pretty: She's a lush, a bit of a slut, a single mother about to loose custody of her young daughter. A cycle of bad parenting is being repeated. Sessions with her therapist (Eric Roberts, warmer than you'd expect) aren't terribly helpful. And the shrink's past CIA connections to Sparrow and the Russian mob aren't terribly clear. Added to the muddle are AA meetings, an estranged half-sister, and a showdown in the empty downtown bus tunnel. (Quite a good location, now unfortunately back in use.) Somewhere, shaking around like the last bean in a coffee tin, there's the irony of a secret agent trying to disclose secrets within his family. But the rest is a fog of flashbacks, purloined letters, and family reconciliation. One wishes for the clarity of Taken, where an overprotective dad proves his love for his daughter by killing as many Albanians as possible. Unfortunately, the lone baddie here is a Russian mobster who sounds Irish. Only Chad Lindberg, as a disheveled, cynical divorce attorney, lends any life to this mess (directed by Garrett Bennett). If his few scenes had been separated from the script (straight to the shredder, please), there might've been the seeds for a decent courtroom comedy--with nary a spy or a sparrow in sight. (NR) BRIAN MILLER
The Spy and the Sparrow Egyptian, 11 a.m. Sat., June 13.
3 comment(s)
Anonymous says:
I saw THE SPY AND THE SPARROW and I have to say Whoa! to this review… On the contraire – THE SPY AND THE SPARROW delivers IMPACT while delivering a POWERFUL STORY about family. I don’t pretend to be a film critic but I can spot the truth and this review compares a wonderful drama - with TAKEN - an action film that's certainly entertaining but totally fails to resonate or have any real depth at all. The good news I suppose is that not every drama that combines elements of the CIA and family has to match the mindless road map of TAKEN that this review was so “taken” with. Otherwise a film like THE SPY AND THE SPARROW wouldn’t have connected with at least 90% of the audience. TAKEN is a strait forward action film and certainly delivers serviceable, but shameful derivative action, and at the end of the day it leaves you with no reason to ever return to it again. Neeson is wonderful, but his performance doesn’t even compare to the nuanced work of David Rashe in THE SPY AND THE SPARROW. TAKEN doesn’t bother to deliver a single detail and if the review really felt they walked away from TAKEN thinking they got a glimpse into a true relationship between a Father and a daughter, then perhaps it would be best if they just stayed away from any film that has more then one (1) single word for a TITLE, and or a word that can only describe the contrived kick-off to the films action… (In the movie TAKEN -- The CIA Father’s daughter is ‘taken’… Get it? She was “taken”…) Maybe that’s as deep as this reviewer can look, but had they looked beyond the derivative action film they projected onto the screen as a comparison and the glee they derived from connecting the dots that both films shared the components of a relationship with a father and a daughter ---Perhaps the review wouldn’t have missed the fact that the hundreds of other people watching the film were actually engaged in a story that didn’t rely on death-toll to move the plot forward. In fact during the SPY AND THE SPARROW the retired CIA agent Father and Daughter finally meet up in a church… The scene was breathtaking and silence fell across the audience. This is simply the truth and the experience and this occurred because the audience was ‘taken’ by a film that had true characters, by a film that actually earned the emotional pay offs, rather then shaking the audience down by contrived mindless formula. And because of this… We didn’t have to go home ‘taken’ by a bunch of manufactured nonsense that was backed by a review we perhaps relied on that perhaps can only ‘thumb up’ a narrative if it comes exploding out of the barrel of a gun. So beware… THE SPY AND THE SPARROW actually resonates; it blends genres in a masterful way, it keeps you in suspense and engages you with real characters and at times, the next beat may not be obvious and you may even have to feel or open your mind, but it's worth it.
Lastly I should add the review appears to be ‘taken’ with the ability to pluck out a scene in the movie that perhaps was shot in Pioneer Square instead of a location in foreign land. If I track back in my memory I might be able to figure out what they are referring to but already I’m thinking… Who cares? Why is that such a victory for a movie reviewer? If I watched the film again, which I’m hoping to do because it’s very good – I’m sure I could find something in the background that was not correct, but I see that in great films all the time, probably because I watch them multiple times to experience them again. Each time that flaw or location that was not the actual location will show up – And each time… I don’t care, because the great film remains, which is always more rewarding.
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 12 2009 @ 1:11AM
William Still says:
I saw THE SPY AND THE SPARROW and I have to say Whoa! to this review… On the contraire – THE SPY AND THE SPARROW delivers IMPACT while delivering a POWERFUL STORY about family. I don’t pretend to be a film critic but I can spot the truth and this review compares a wonderful drama - with TAKEN - an action film that's certainly entertaining but totally fails to resonate or have any real depth at all. The good news I suppose is that not every drama that combines elements of the CIA and family has to match the mindless road map of TAKEN that this review was so “taken” with. Otherwise a film like THE SPY AND THE SPARROW wouldn’t have connected with at least 90% of the audience. TAKEN is a strait forward action film and certainly delivers serviceable, but shameful derivative action, and at the end of the day it leaves you with no reason to ever return to it again. Neeson is wonderful, but his performance doesn’t even compare to the nuanced work of David Rashe in THE SPY AND THE SPARROW. TAKEN doesn’t bother to deliver a single detail and if the review really felt they walked away from TAKEN thinking they got a glimpse into a true relationship between a Father and a daughter, then perhaps it would be best if they just stayed away from any film that has more then one (1) single word for a TITLE, and or a word that can only describe the contrived kick-off to the films action… (In the movie TAKEN -- The CIA Father’s daughter is ‘taken’… Get it? She was “taken”…) Maybe that’s as deep as this reviewer can look, but had they looked beyond the derivative action film they projected onto the screen as a comparison and the glee they derived from connecting the dots that both films shared the components of a relationship with a father and a daughter ---Perhaps the review wouldn’t have missed the fact that the hundreds of other people watching the film were actually engaged in a story that didn’t rely on death-toll to move the plot forward. In fact during the SPY AND THE SPARROW the retired CIA agent Father and Daughter finally meet up in a church… The scene was breathtaking and silence fell across the audience. This is simply the truth and the experience and this occurred because the audience was ‘taken’ by a film that had true characters, by a film that actually earned the emotional pay offs, rather then shaking the audience down by contrived mindless formula. And because of this… We didn’t have to go home ‘taken’ by a bunch of manufactured nonsense that was backed by a review we perhaps relied on that perhaps can only ‘thumb up’ a narrative if it comes exploding out of the barrel of a gun. So beware… THE SPY AND THE SPARROW actually resonates; it blends genres in a masterful way, it keeps you in suspense and engages you with real characters and at times, the next beat may not be obvious and you may even have to feel or open your mind, but it's worth it.
Lastly I should add the review appears to be ‘taken’ with the ability to pluck out a scene in the movie that perhaps was shot in Pioneer Square instead of a location in foreign land. If I track back in my memory I might be able to figure out what they are referring to but already I’m thinking… Who cares? Why is that such a victory for a movie reviewer? If I watched the film again, which I’m hoping to do because it’s very good – I’m sure I could find something in the background that was not correct, but I see that in great films all the time, probably because I watch them multiple times to experience them again. Each time that flaw or location that was not the actual location will show up – And each time… I don’t care, because the great film remains, which is always more rewarding.
William Still
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 12 2009 @ 1:18AM
buyerguy says:
Anonymous, you ARE pretending to be a film critic. Not revealing your name arouses my suspicion that you are somehow connected to the film. Friends with the producer or director perhaps?
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 12 2009 @ 8:08AM