Film Review - Official Secrets (15)

Someone in this building has betrayed their country.

Much as I love the spectacle of super-hero movies and the frisson of horror and the adrenalin-rush of action-fests, there's little more satisfying than settling down to a really good political thriller. I'm not talking about the all-guns-blazing type featuring Jacks Ryan or Reacher. I mean those fuelled by intense conversations in darkened rooms - where everything that's said (or not said) brims with significance and where the stakes are raised to vertiginous heights through words alone. That kind of pure intrigue is a rare commodity in modern cinema, which is what makes Official Secrets such a brooding delight.

Keira Knightley plays real-life Katharine Gun, a low-key operatative in the British GCHQ intelligence agency. In|January 2003 she made the decision to leak an email from America's National Security Agency on the proposed invasion of Iraq; the communication in question outlined an illegal operation to influence member states of the UN Security Council into appoving the war. While Gun's colleagues received the same information, it was she who felt sufficiently outraged to pass on a copy of email, thus potantially blowing the operation's cover. Her action triggered events that threatened to destroy every aspect of her life. But more than that, it fuelled a massive political controversy the repercussions of which are felt to this day.

Official Secrets immerses you in its reality right from the start, not least through the frequent use of 2003 news footage. Catherine rants at Tony Blair and George W. Bush on her TV screen like so many did, as colossal international events unfold. It all convinces totally and she feels ordinary - an intelligent but anonymous woman, whose conscience (along with fate) thrusts her into an unenviable moral conundrum. Traitor or whistleblower? It's a question for our time and the film wrestles with it in fascinating detail, helped hugely by Knightley's haunted but fervent performance. The posh girl from Pirates of the Caribbean has come into her own as an actor these past few years and here she's never been better than here.

But impressive as she is, it's not just about Katherine. This is a story that begins with espionage, before transforming into both an investigative journalism drama and legal thriller, each as compelling as the other. It's all verbal cut and thrust - wrangling over truth and lies and taking massive risks to put the brakes on a war that might very well be illegal. Acting talent runs deep - Matt Smith's driven Observer reporter and Ralph Fiennes' campaigning civil rights lawyer are two of the more prominent and compelling examples. The direction is bow-string taut, courtesy of Gavin Hood, who in 2015 brought us nail-biting drone warfare thriller Eye in the Sky. It's moody too, the tension augmented by an ominous score from Hood's long-time collaborators Paul Hepker and Mark Killian. Everything from screenplay upward is working together sweetly here and if it becomes a little bit thematically in-your-face at points, that's a minor consideration. Too much else is spot-on.

Not a bullet is fired or a bomb triggered in Official Secrets (at least not on British soil), but the implications of brutal destruction elsewhere in the world are sobering. All is thick with duplicity and double standards, and the real-life recent nature of the story makes this arguably the most engrossing and vital thriller of the year. In a world where the true nature of patriotism is a source of daily debate and division, this is an essential movie as well as a very good one - and it needs to be seen by a lot more people.

Gut Reaction: Chin-resting-on-knuckles eyes-fixed-on-every-moment gripped. Oh and I got angry.

Memorable Moment: To 'fess or not to 'fess...

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. Multiple elements knit together seamlessly to create a quietly pulse-racing and passionate drama-thriller. Seemingly out of nowhere comes a story that really, genuinely matters.

Film Review - Downton Abbey (PG)

A royal luncheon, a parade and a dinner? I'm going to have to sit down!

I've only ever watched the Downton Abbey TV series on Christmas Day and with my parents. During those festive specials they'd bring me up to speed with all the goings-on both upstairs and downstairs at the Crawley family estate. 'So the Irish Republican chauffeur is marrying upwards into the family? Okay, well good for him.' 'And this guy's on trial for murder because...? Ah, right, got it. Do we think he's guilty? No? Good.' It gave me enough to work with going in to see the new DA feature film. Not enough to enjoy all the naunces on which the hardcore Baby Boomer fans around me were clearly picking up, but plenty to make it a fun experience nonetheless. And it is fun, even if you're not Downton die-hard. But get real - this movie is definitely made for the faithful.

The year is 1927 and royalty is descending upon the Crawley family pile, with family members and servants bracing themselves for the arrival of King George, Queen Mary and their entourage. Among the guests is Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton), an estranged Crawley cousin, whose financial plans have formidable matriarch Countess Violet at her most combative. And when the advance party arrive in the form of the royal servants (led by David Haig's insufferably pompous Mr Wilson), the Downton staff find themselves in danger of being sidelined in their own duties. Maybe the return of the retired head butler Carson (Jim Carter) can help them fight back.

Those are just the main strands in this continuation of the soapy period saga, because - fair warning - the subplots are innumerable. 2015's Christmas special rounded everything off pretty neatly, so it's a good idea to have the event storyline of imminent royal guests to kick things back into motion. Plus there are a few characters - the tragedy-stricken (and aforementioned Irish Republican) Tom Branson and promoted under-butler Thomas Barrow to name a couple - whose personal stories warrant a bit more spinning out. However, virtually everyone in the extensive ensemble cast gets a bit of proper screen time here, resulting in a fragmented, if still enjoyable narrative.

This is basically a Downton Christmas special for the big screen, with added pageantry and bigger production values. Director Michael Engler, who headed up the final Yuletide episode, makes the most of the grand locations with lots of swooping aerial shots of the Abbey and long tracking shots through its labyrinthine interiors, as vital messages are conveyed and brasses are polished in preparation for the grand arrival. Writer Julian Fellowes keeps things lower key, however, touching base with every single character and providing a wide scattering of dramatic touches rather than anything genuinely explosive. (The one thread that promises a literal explosion is wrapped up surprisingly early on.) 

Performance-wise Dame Maggie Smith is of course a stand-out and granted as many dry one-liners as you'd expect, along with some moments of genuine drama. But Allen Leech and Robert James-Collier both get decent stuff to chew on as the two Toms, as do welcome richly-written newcomers like Staunton and Haig. And even first-time visitors to Downton will be amused by the central downstairs conflict - Mrs Hughes and Mrs Patmore fuming in the face of the royal servants' gall and plotting their retaliation.

In conventional cinematic terms this big-screen extension is not a great film. It's too structurally rooted in the TV show for that. But it's charming and funny and even touching at points - with all the high-born and lowly characters its audience has come to love and only the mildest critique of the British class structure (along with a message that toffs can be progressive too). If you've never done Downton, you'll most likely find it a diverting couple of hours. If you're a fan, I highly suspect you'll float straight to a heaven populated by all your favourite characters. And none of them will disappoint.

Gut Reaction: Unexpected swell of emotion at the theme music and quite a few laughs-out-loud. Plus something very personal - this was my mum's favourite TV drama after all.

Memorable Moment: Mr Mosely's big moment.

Ed's Verdict: 7/10. It's essentially a massive extra episode of the show, but it rattles along at a decent pace, is full of incident and hits its beats - comic and dramatic - very effectively. Champagne all round.