Maybe I went into Battle Royale (2001) with my expectations too high. This notorious Japanese violence-fest has its share of bloody, creative virtues, but ultimately it rang hollow for me. In a totalitarian alternate reality, the reigning regime enacts draconian laws to keep the younger generations in line. As part of this initiative, a busload [...]
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A technicolor mix of action and intrigue, The Professional (1981) is a twisty French romp flavored with odd spaghetti western atmosphere. Josselin Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is an agent of the secret service, sent to Africa to commit a political assassination. Changes in the corridors of French power, however, scuttle the mission while it’s still in [...]
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Sam Peckinpah’s final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983), is exactly the kind of intriguing oddity I was hoping the Spy 100 project would suss out, a convoluted and interesting kludge of ideas, themes, and film-making techniques. In light of Peckinpah’s reputation as a director of violent action movies, I wasn’t expecting much complexity from this [...]
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