The Fourth Protocol (1986)

Established movie wisdom has it that Michael Caine made his name and a couple of handfuls of classic movies in the 1960s and early 70s, moved to Hollywood, and partly through necessity, partly through bad choices made some real stinkers in the 1980s before career and critical resurrection from the mid-90s onwards, starting with Little Voice. The reality of course is more complicated. Caine made bad films in the 60s and good films in the 80s, it’s just that the majority of his memorably bad movies come from the later period- think Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, The Island and Jaws The Revenge. However, among the rough were also gems like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and in my opinion, The Fourth Protocol. I hadn’t seen this film for years but certain scenes were still stuck in my imagination- Caine’s drunk act to mask his break-in at the film’s start(a very well done, suspenseful but realistic scene), Brosnan’s killing of Cassidy straight after sex, and The Day of the Jackal type ending. Directed by John Mackenzie who made the classic, The Long Good Friday, and scripted by Fredrick Forsyth himself from his own novel. The film was also coaxed into life by Caine who takes a producer’s credit. Unsurprisingly then, it’s as British as a stick of rock, boasting a recognizable gallery of Brit character actors this side of a Harry Potter film, and oddly, Ned Beatty playing a Russian. Caine is great, and you could imagine that this is Harry Palmer still in service 20 years after The Ipcress File, having discovered contact lenses. The tone is cynical and comes across as similar to John le Care with more action, nobody seems to be trustworthy or who they appear, save Caine, and as he says to Ian Richardson( doing a warm-up for Francis Urquhart), ‘it’s all a fucking game to you….you don’t care about people.’ Also, Brosnan gives a standout performance as a Russian agent with ice for blood, a clear 9 years before becoming Bond, and you can’t help wishing he’d have been a bit more like this in that role, as he emotionlessly dispatches any perceived threat, and also has a kinkily animalistic sexuality to him. Joanna Cassidy gets another seriously thankless role which mainly asks her to lay around dead and topless which also gives proceedings a slightly distasteful edge. Of course, for me, there was a lot of joy in playing spot the English location as Cassidy is picked up by Brosnan outside The Royal Albert Hall, we have a car chase in Ipswich, and best of all having come from the area, Caine rushing to catch the Liverpool Street to Colchester train. Not exceptional but a solid little thriller, that like Caine’s character might not be pretty or subtle, but does its job. 7/10