Pretty Good

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A Masterpiece!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

THE JIGSAW MAN is an unremarkable spy drama of the 1980s that manages to be boring rather than thrilling, routine rather than intriguing. It doesn't help that it has no suspense whatsoever, it just goes through the motions throughout and veers into silliness on more than one occasion. Terence Young directs for the penultimate time in his career and is a long way from his glory Bond days of the 1960s here. Michael Caine is the miscast protagonist, a Russian spy who undergoes facial surgery in order to go undercover back in Britain once his cover is blown. An extraordinary cast of famous faces propel the story along, but you can't help find them more than a little wasted. Laurence Olivier is the handler, Robert Powell a fellow agent, and Susan George doesn't seem to have aged a day since STRAW DOGS. Charles Gray delivers an impeccably pompous turn while Vladek Sheybal, Michael Medwin, David Kelly, and Anthony Dawson do little more than provide mildly interesting cameos.

So long as you are aware that you're about to watch a truly terrible terrible movie, you can sit back and enjoy the full extent of its absolute awfulness! Michael Caine doing some incredibly bad accents whilst karate chopping people to death with a single blow (he even manages to render a policeman unconscious by tripping him up!), Susan George being her usual am-dram hammy self, Robert Powell portraying the world's poshest policeman, and Lawrence Olivier either grumbling and gesticulating melodramatically or pausing abruptly because he's forgotten his next line. And who could blame him?! Everyone has been asked to utter dialogue so monumentally bad it has to be heard to be believed! After the highly amusing car chase climax, Caine suddenly turns philosopher and decides that "War is bad" - classic stuff! Everything about this film is bad, the script, the sets, the acting, the accents, the direction, the editing, the stunts, even the music's awful! But badness of this magnitude should be celebrated and enjoyed for what it is, and for this reason I have given this magnificent mess a 10 star rating! The only puzzle about this jigsaw is how it ever got to see the light of day!

Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier are involved in this routine movie (probably rent was due and the fellows were late on payment) which is completely useless. A former British spy who betrayed his own country is sent back from Russia on a mission. But suddenly (well, not so suddenly) the story twists to an unexpected (well, not so unexpected) ending. No actor seems to be interested in what is happening and the Italian dub (above all Olivier) is rather poor. The plot makes little sense and . If you look for a spy movie with Michael Caine, watch "The Ipcress File" or "The fourth protocol",instead. They would be a very much better choice.

The direction is antiquated (long, boring conversations between two people in underlit offices, as the camera switches from a close-up of one person to a close-up of the other, and so on), and the script is confusing (though it clears up a bit on the second viewing). However, the film is saved EXCLUSIVELY by its cast, and especially by the star chemistry between Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier; the few scenes they share together are the best in the film. Caine pulls off a terrific Russian accent, too. (**)