The Fourth Protocol (1987) - film review

During the Cold War, the head of the KGB, General Govershin, devises a plan that will strike a potentially fatal blow to NATO, by breaching the Fourth Protocol of the recent nuclear weapons treaty.  He sends his top agent Major Valeri Petrofsky to England where he will assemble a small nuclear bomb and detonate it at an American airbase.   Govershin’s gamble is that the nuclear explosion will so fiercely inflame British public opinion that the Americans will be forced to close their airbases on British soil, weakening NATO’s power in Europe.  Meanwhile, MI5 agent John Preston manages to get on the wrong side of his new boss, Brian Harcourt-Smith, who does not approve of his unorthodox methods.  Demoted to monitoring suspicious activity in the UK’s airports and ports, Preston sees an opportunity to redeem himself when he thwarts the smuggling of a component of a nuclear bomb detonator.  Harcourt-Smith is unimpressed and merely has him dismissed for insubordination.  Encouraged by a senior MI5 officer, Sir Nigel Irvine, Preston continues his investigation and soon manages to piece together the Soviet plot.  Unless he can find Petrofsky and prevent him from detonating the bomb, Preston can say goodbye to his pension - and a large chunk of middle England...

Although Frederick Forsyth’s novel The Fourth Protocol proved to be a worldwide bestseller, the author had some difficulty bringing it to the big screen.  He was adamant that his friend Michael Caine would take the lead role, since this had many similarities with the Harry Palmer character Caine had immortalised in films such as The Ipcress File (1965).  In the end, Forsyth and Caine founded their own production company (Fourth Protocol) but had an uphill struggle raising the 8 million pound budget.  George Axelrod was hired to write the screenplay, although Forsyth took over this responsibility and pretty well wrote the script solo.  The film was directed by John Mackenzie, who had previously scored a major success with The Long Good Friday (1980), which is now considered a seminal British gangster film.  For the second lead, the Soviet agent Petrofsky, the relatively unknown actor Pierce Brosnan was chosen - this was to be his feature debut in what would be a high-profile film career.

The Fourth Protocol offers a chillingly realistic depiction of the worlds of espionage and international terrorism, and its central concept has a far greater resonance today than when the film was first seen.  The film’s portrayal of the ease with which a nuclear bomb can be smuggled into the country and assembled is factually based and provides considerable pause for thought.  Forsyth’s screenplay is as compelling as his novel, enlivened by its well-drawn characters and a well-honed plot that slowly builds to a satisfying climax, even if some of the plot contrivances are a little hard to swallow.

This is a great film for Michael Caine fans - the actor turns in one of his most convincing and humane performances yet, assisted by Forsyth’s terse, to-the-point dialogue.  Unlike Harry Palmer, who often came across as a caricature of a British secret service agent, Caine’s character in the The Fourth Protocol looks so real that you can almost smell his social security number.  The biggest surprise on the acting front is Pierce Brosnan - he makes such a sinister villain, deliciously dark and sexy, that you wonder by what cruel trick of fate he ended up having to play bland heroes.  The distinguished supporting cast includes the great Irish stage actor Ray McAnally and Ian Richardson, who would shortly afterwards find national fame as Francis Urquhart in the BBC TV series House of Cards.  On the strength of its performances alone, The Fourth Protocol should be considered one of the most gripping spy thrillers of the 1980s.

© Steve Chandler 2011

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