Spooks: The Greater Good
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Starring: Kit Harington, Tuppence Middleton, Jennifer Ehle
104 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd

The TV series Spooks, chronicling the work of a group of MI5 operatives, ran on the BBC for 10 years ending in 2011 and was clearly a show successful enough to merit this big screen incarnation of its own.

In a high security operation, MI5 transfer notorious terrorist Adem Qasim (Elyes Gabriel) to their American counterparts.

However, while the prisoner is in transit, Qasim’s comrades stage an audacious attack enabling him to escape.

The MI5’s long-standing head of counter-terrorism Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) takes the blame. He resigns, and events take their toll in a rather grim manner.

As the authorities face the fallout over the escape, Will Holloway, a former agent currently residing in Moscow who also had strong ties to Pearce in the past, is brought back in to investigate Harry’s disappearance.

During his enquiries, he uncovers some pretty brutal truths not only about his former mentor, but also within the hallowed spy organisation itself.

The plot about international terrorism, administrative blunders and the morally murky decisions the characters need to make hardly breaks new ground, yet it employs enough betrayals and double-crosses to pique the interest; keeping its cards very close to its chest as to what will happen next.

It also convincingly captures the complexities of the job – a couple of instances where agents make decisions for the greater good, despite said decisions putting fellow agents in mortal danger are particularly chilling.

Although many of the characters are new to the Spooks universe, those unfamiliar with the TV series – like yours truly – may feel the need for a few more character detail especially with regard to Pearce, one of the main characters of the show who appeared in every episode throughout its 10-year run.

Convincingly captures the complexities of the job

Obviously, Firth is exceptionally comfortable in the role he has played for so long, and he perfectly embodies the hardened veteran of the job who has seen more than his fair share of problems.

In Firth’s stance and attitude you can read just enough about him to discern who he is and what he is about, but despite the occasional throwaway lines about his past life, both personal and professional, there is little to really help audience members unfamiliar with the character understand what truly makes him tick.

Harington’s rogue agent Will Holloway cuts a suitably grim figure as he makes his way throughout the plot, and the script fails to elaborate on his – or rather his father’s – past with Pearce that drives their current relationship.

Elyes Gabriel makes Qasim much more than a one-dimensional sneering villain, injecting some gravitas into the well-spoken terrorist who truly believes in his cause.

There are many supporting characters who seem to appear fleetingly to ostensibly drive the plot forward, yet these are too thinly-sketched.

A case in point is an agent who may have been in cahoots with Qasim and a former colleague of Pearce’s who meets a rather brutal end.

On the other hand, Jennifer Ehle as Dame Geraldine Maltby, the imperturbable Deputy Director General at MI5 and David Harewood as the liaison between the British government and its security services, MI5 and MI6 bring gravitas to their small roles.

Director Bharat Nalluri, one of the original directors of the TV series, helms with a firm hand, the opening escape staged with efficiency and quite a bit of excitement, and he is obviously comfortable with the material.

The film may lack the epic scope of a Bond. However, as any decent spy movie should, the script by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley boasts enough niftily staged action scenes to keep things going at a steady pace; while taking the protagonists on a globe-trotting journey from London to Moscow and Berlin.

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