Traditionally, when film wants to show us a side of the international intelligence gathering community, they put us in the passenger seat of a McLaren as a suave British agent races to save the day. What most people think they know about spies comes from movies, and now Wikileaks – but mostly movies. People have become pretty savvy in the last 30 years, and they’ve come to realize that what they see in films isn’t quite how it works in the real world, and spies are no exception. Yes, spies exist, but the fraction of the intelligence community they represent is so small that it’s comparable to the tip of an iceberg. They simply have the sexiest part of the job. The truth is that for every person out in “the field” there are dozens sitting behind a desk sifting through papers and dealing with the eternally conflicting worlds of bureaucracy, secrecy, and publicity. Page Eight puts Bill Nighy in that much quieter world, only to show that while the adversaries in that sector of the business don’t always carry guns, they mean you no less harm—either politically or lethally.
Long since relegated to the duties of an MI5 desk jockey, Johnny Worricker’s (Nighy) days of action and intrigue are behind him. Now, his life consists of a day-to-day routine of fact-checking and correspondence, a routine interrupted on two sides when his superior (Michael Gambon) confronts him with a file of incriminating evidence for higher ups in the British government and his neighbor (Rachel Weisz) begins offering up tantalizing pieces of conversation which seem too targeted to his specialty to be a coincidence. Both situations put him at odds with his official role, confronting him with a choice: does he pursue the matters down a dark rabbit hole that could mean the end of his career, or does he pass the bill and hope it all blows over without showing up as the top news item in the next morning’s paper?
Written and directed by David Hare, Page Eight displays many of the same superbly crafted traits of ethically-motivated tension and characterization that has made his work stand out in recent years (The Reader, The Hour). Unfortunately, Page Eight can’t be said to be at quite the same standard, as it never quite escalates to a point that’s truly riveting, instead contenting itself with being merely interesting for a solid 100 minutes. A few extra degrees of conflict would have taken Page Eight from beyond a tepid political drama to a simmering mystery thriller.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
None.
"Page Eight" is on sale November 8, 2011 and is not rated. Drama, Mystery. Written and directed by David Hare. Starring Bill Nighy, Ewen Bremner, Michael Gambon, Rachel Weisz.
