paulgfry Review of Shadow Run

Shadow Run (1998)

I had to pinch myself that watching this film was not a bad dream

[1/10 · 11 December 2008]

Having just finished watching this film and staring at the TV screen in bewilderment, I wondered whether it had been made as some sort of sick joke. I immediately checked this brilliant website out to see if there had been any comments posted, and was so relieved to see so many others shocked, dismayed, depressed and utterly gobsmacked at the appalling plot and well known actors performances. I, like most other contributors, had bought this film for 99p merely because Michael Caine was in it, and then I read that someone else paid only 97 pence, I was indeed robbed! Most of the screen and script blunders have been covered, especially about the unconvincing 'security' van, but the scene where James Fox fires his shotgun at Caine's Mercedes back window, leaving a neat hole and managing to hit Caine's head???? Excuse me, have they redesigned shotguns, then, the back window would have been blown clean out or shattered, most of the shot would have lodged in the glass, surely? A cellphone signal blocked by one sheet of metal suspended from a crane, ummmhh, who was their technical consultant? The opening scenes feature a radio shack(what was Tandy in Europe)microphone dangling from an amusingly long piece of connecting cable. If this high security load was as important as it was made out to be, why use a radio shack microphone? Professional communications equipment would have been used like Motorola, Yaesu, Icom, etc. The screen readout supposedly showing them which routes to use was just a few coloured lines on a plain screen, no background grid, and utterly amateurish. Come to think of it, where did all the plug and jack equipment come from, why was it there, it was clearly obsolete, even for 1998 when the film is said to have been made. Mine is dated 2006, which hurts even more. All the equipment necessary for communications between the van and its base would have been an encrypted duplex fm transceiver, or a small microprocessor controlled cell phone. The strangulation of the equally unconvincing escort girl took place in his car, with her almost looking at him. Now I am no strangulation expert, but I thought the general idea was to be behind the victim so as to make it almost impossible for the victim to stop being strangled, the death occurring by compressing the Adam's apple into the throat - anyway, it just did not look convincing to me. I am utterly, no, totally bemused as to why Michael Caine, (is it Sir Michael now?) allowed himself to be duped into making this. Its his name that is selling the movie (or was it just a very long trailer?)Was he that short of money? One of my favourite films of his is Fourth Protocol, where he acts superbly, but of course The Italian Job takes some beating. I guess actors like this don't get much work these days, so they have to accept what they are offered, in fear of it being their last, its a great pity. I believe in years to come this film will be very valuable and rare because so many people would have thrown it away in disgust, and it will reach record prices on ebay, I am keeping mine just in case.