I've always wanted to see this film but didn't until I watched it on NetFlix in 2010.
The main problem with this film is the screenplay - I didn't read the book, but I am guessing the screenplay is very faithful, because it plays like Masterpiece Theatre with a budget.
As a result, its a long movie, but I suspect it was much longer as their are some situations and scenes which seem to have had supporting scenes which were cut.
There is just no interesting flow to this movie at all, the characters and relationships are very poorly developed, and the actors don't seem to have any significant investment in their characters or motivations either. Its almost like watching a long screen test.
Which is too bad - WIlliam Hurt and Brian Denehy are great actors, but could have both been replaced with competent unknowns - it probably would have been a better film, actually, as the viewer wouldn't keep asking themselves 'Why is Hurt acting like a limp noodle?' or 'Was Brian Denehy attached to this project late?'
There is no voice coaching in this movie - everyone speaks English - which is fine, since its an American movie - but the actor's individual accents are not coached out - the Russians in this movie mostly speak with British accents, but they vary into other accents as well. No Russian is fine, but at least keep the accents consistent.
There are some weird moments in the movie also - like 'how do the police come to know this pristine snow blanket is covering a murder scene"? Or 'Why did William Hurt just profess love to someone he barely knows?' or 'Why is William Hurt completely unconcerned that the man he has come to kill just pulled a pistol out of a drawer and loaded it?' or 'Why did Lee Marvin take that pistol out of the drawer in the first place'?
Its obvious stuff like this was taken out of the book, which had explanatory non-dialog text which put it into context, but when transferred to the screen, they forgot that the audience does not have access to that text.
An occasional musical interlude of 80's synth pad and drum machine also painfully dates the movie at certain points.
Anyways, a real yawner that seemed to try to capitalize on a bestselling book by throwing some budget and talent into a big vat with a book and stirring - but no one really bothered to make a movie here.
The main problem with this film is the screenplay - I didn't read the book, but I am guessing the screenplay is very faithful, because it plays like Masterpiece Theatre with a budget.
As a result, its a long movie, but I suspect it was much longer as their are some situations and scenes which seem to have had supporting scenes which were cut.
There is just no interesting flow to this movie at all, the characters and relationships are very poorly developed, and the actors don't seem to have any significant investment in their characters or motivations either. Its almost like watching a long screen test.
Which is too bad - WIlliam Hurt and Brian Denehy are great actors, but could have both been replaced with competent unknowns - it probably would have been a better film, actually, as the viewer wouldn't keep asking themselves 'Why is Hurt acting like a limp noodle?' or 'Was Brian Denehy attached to this project late?'
There is no voice coaching in this movie - everyone speaks English - which is fine, since its an American movie - but the actor's individual accents are not coached out - the Russians in this movie mostly speak with British accents, but they vary into other accents as well. No Russian is fine, but at least keep the accents consistent.
There are some weird moments in the movie also - like 'how do the police come to know this pristine snow blanket is covering a murder scene"? Or 'Why did William Hurt just profess love to someone he barely knows?' or 'Why is William Hurt completely unconcerned that the man he has come to kill just pulled a pistol out of a drawer and loaded it?' or 'Why did Lee Marvin take that pistol out of the drawer in the first place'?
Its obvious stuff like this was taken out of the book, which had explanatory non-dialog text which put it into context, but when transferred to the screen, they forgot that the audience does not have access to that text.
An occasional musical interlude of 80's synth pad and drum machine also painfully dates the movie at certain points.
Anyways, a real yawner that seemed to try to capitalize on a bestselling book by throwing some budget and talent into a big vat with a book and stirring - but no one really bothered to make a movie here.