The knife with the blade : espionage without action
In the collective imagination, when we evoke a movie with spiesthe works that come before certainly are James Bond OR Mission Impossible. Two extremely popular action sagas carried out on the one hand by Agent 007 and on the other by Agent Ethan Hunt. However, the world of espionage is very different and the productions have given a different image of it. Like the very precise series The Office of Legendsor lately British black comedy Slow horses. Let’s also think of the film adaptations of John le Carré’s novels, such as the excellent The mole. It is rather in this category that we find The knife with the bladespy thriller released in 2022.
Of course, Janus Metz Pedersen’s feature film, based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer (2015), is a thousand miles away from a film like The mole. But it remains interesting to see a film like this today (or at least in 2022). foster psychological and intimate relationships between two spies, rather than action. The site Octopus.ca wrote about the film: “The Knife of the Blade attempts something largely absent from the cinematic repertoire of recent years: portraying a spy story, sure, but one that doesn’t revolve around chases, explosions and action movie stars who refuse to age“.
The story is set in 2020 and follows CIA agent Henry Pelham. The latter learns that a case dating back to 2012 is reopened due to of a possible loss. At that time, a plane was hijacked by terrorists. Henry had intervened with Celia Harrison, but their mission had ended tragically. Ex loversHenry and Celia meet for a meal to talk about the case again and find the mole.
A forgotten film despite Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton
The knife with the blade it is therefore built around long conversations and flashbacks which will reveal the identity of the double agent. An original approach for a result that is unfortunately not incisive enough. This, despite quality casting, with Chris Pine and Thanks Newton in the two lead roles, while Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce appear in supporting roles. A distribution that did not help attract the public, due to a very discreet release in France on Prime Video. In the United States the feature film would have been successful 637,000 American families during its first weekend. Which is far from making it a success for the streaming platform.
Finally, on the critical side, the press was still rather lenient with them 64% positive reviews registered on Rotten tomatoes. The public is visibly less convinced with only 45% positive opinions. ON Assignedthe average viewer rating is 2.8/5.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
