i can see why it wasn’t commercially successful, but those are the same reasons i love it.
it’s understated. it’s full of moral grays. it’s got sexual tension that never resolves. it’s full of references to cold war spy movies shot during the cold war. it’s color-adjusted to match a 1960′s color palette. the camera work is 1960′s style camera work, just a bit smoother and better produced. most important of all, it captures perfectly the cynical hedonism of the cold war era.
the plot in a nutshell: russia and america might be holding knives to each other’s throats 24/7, but when they find out a leftover organization of nazis might get nukes, their intelligence communities can set aside their differences for a minute to do something about it. of course, the thing about spies is… they’re spies. if they were trustworthy, they wouldn’t be any good at their jobs.
i don’t know whether younger viewers will like it or not. if you like classic spy movies, i’m pretty sure you’ll love it. it’s everything that’s great about old james bond, but without the misogyny. or gadgets, mostly, though there’s a few nods to the spy gadget trope.
it’s context-aware and very much an homage. but it’s also a lot of fun on its own. i never thought the best car chase i’ve ever seen would take place on empty roads at night, for instance, and what illya and napoleon lack in kung fu choreography they make up for in destroying an entire italian public bathroom.
it’s stylish. it’s so stylish. the costuming is amazing. the acting is subtly flawless – not the kind that impresses you with the actors’ skill, but the kind that makes you forget they’re actors. the technology doesn’t look clunky and old the way they relate to it – listening devices the size of matchbooks and control consoles with toggle switches and grainy little radar screens, speedboats made of varnished wood and big bakelite telephones – it could be comical, or it could be quaint, but it’s neither.
in essence, it’s not a 2015 movie, it’s a 1965 movie made in 2015. and it’s BRILLIANT.
I got up this morning and TWO PEOPLE are loving on my favorite movie. This is awesome, I love it, today HAS to be a good day.
I'd Much Rather Have a Dragon 