Name: Retro Film Review: The Spy Within (1995)
Item: The Spy Within
Rating: 15
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

(NOTE: Capsule version of the review is available here.)

Although being influenced by fairy tale world of James Bond movies, the audience in our cynical times might have some vague idea of spy career not being as attractive as depicted on the silver screen. The protagonist of The Flight of the Dove a.k.a. The Spy Within, 1995 thriller directed by Steve Railsback, has realised this sad truth a long time ago. But for Mary Ann Curran a.k.a. Alex Canis (played by Theresa Russell) this truth came too late. She is beautiful woman who traded sex for secrets and now, fed up with this job, she wants to leave. But that isn't easy, since her bosses would prefer to see her dead and thus stop worrying about her spilling beans about the dirty work she had done for them. Alex is forced to run and, along the way, she stumbles on William B. Rickman (played by Scott Glenn), explosives expert haunted by the tragic event in his past. This man would provide assistance to the fleeing agent when she faces the team of government assasins.

Shot with the modest budget, The Spy Witin has a script that doesn't promise anything more than a cheap, exploitative version of Besson's La Femme Nikita. However, presence of two rather respectable actors in main roles could have made this project at least marginally interesting. Theressa Russell, still attractive after the years in front of camera, nevertheless looks uncomfortable in the role that was obviously better suited to someone like Shannon Tweed. Experienced and always reliable Scott Glenn barely fares any better as her partner, and the films looks bad especially in "erotic" scenes. The reason for that can be found in inexperience of Steve Railsback, one of Hollywood's most reliable character actors, who obviously still has some ropes to learn behind the camera. Because of that, The Spy Within is a film that deserved its descent into oblivion.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on August 5th 2002)