Pretty Good

Let's be realistic.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I'm amazed that this movie gets such good reviews on Amazon and IMDb. Its a real turkey. Production values are all over the place. Some big period sets, and some laughably bad ones. The scene of the boat in the storm looks like something from Airplane. The first half rips along as if they are trying to cram a mini series into one episode. The second half is far too drawn out. The acting and direction is completely wooden. The score is also completely overblown. Donald Sutherland seems to specialise in these turkeys.It feels like 1st year film project. Some of the edits are terrible! I can't believe it doesn't have more negative reviews. Maybe there are lots of Star Wars fans (same director as return of the Jedi). Totally corny and forgettable.

Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland) is actually a German spy nicknamed "the Needle" for his stabbing stiletto. He's been broadcasting since early in the war. He discovers the phantom Patton army as a fake leading up to D-Day. He is pursued by the British authorities. He tries to carry the valuable information back to Germany but his boat sinks off of Storm Island. He is cared for by Lucy (Kate Nelligan) and her crippled husband David with their son. A romance ensues as the drama escalates.It's a good spy thriller with a wartime romance to top it off. Sutherland is terrific as cold hearted killer. I don't think we need David and Lucy until they encounter Henry Faber. It adds very little to the movie. They cut up the dramatic tension of the spy thriller in the first half of the movie. There is good thrills and good tension.

I can't help drawing parallels between Eye of the Needle and the Da Vinci Code, though the stories are as different as possible. In both cases I made the mistake of reading the book before watching the movie.In Eye of the Needle the different storyline parts are way wrong. The ending of the book – from when "Faber" arrives at the island, takes up about half of the movie. As a result of this, all the good stuff from the book is pretty much cut away or have been reduced to short scenes, where some elements have been altered, and not for the good.As for Donald Sutherland in this movie, well he comes of as just as wrong for the part as Tom Hanks was as Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci Code. Because of this the movie loses a lot of the good elements from Ken Follett's book. Have you seen this movie ones, it is pretty unlikely that you will ever see it again or remember it the day after, as there is more or less nothing in it that stays in your mind. So my advice for people who have read the book, don't watch the movie. For those who haven't, well you can still find something better to watch.

The movie Eye of the Needle is one of the most exciting pictures I've ever seen - in 40 years of being a movie buff. The historical setting of England at the start of World War II, and the remote channel island puts you in another world. As in other movies, where we often side with the villain, we find a German Admiral played by Donald Sutherland, a spy operating in England. His dedication to his assignment causes him to work tirelessly, and at times ruthlessly for Germany. You might hope that things could end differently, because it involves a heartbreaking romance with Kate Nelligan in an outstanding performance. If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you make an effort to do so.