28/17
Helen begins a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Helen’s employers ask Sam to protect her. Rat Scabies, from whom Sam gets his gun, plays Bingo, the owner of a guitar shop, when his lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld. A member of The Damned… in The Graham Norton Show: Cher/Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Josh Brolin/Jaylen Ngonda (2024). The Tale of New York, Written by Jem Finer, Shane McGowan, Performed by The Pogues & Kirsty McCall. STARS: ***** Excellent **** Very Good *** Good ** Poor * Terrible ‘Helen Webb’ (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband, the Secretary of State for Defence, Wallace (Andrew Buchan), and their two children. Everything seems idyllic until her former commanding officer Reid (Sarah Lancashire) reappears in her life and informs her that her secret lover Jason (Andrew Codgey) has been murdered along with two others, causing her to relive her former life as a secret spy, on a quest for revenge. Reid reunites him with assassin Sam (Ben Whishaw) and his former trainer, and together they navigate a complex web of political espionage and assassination. The spy thriller has been popular for years, but it still has the potential to work in new and different forms. Black Doves emerged from nowhere with a massive advertising campaign to become Netflix’s latest major production to top the charts and aim to revive the genre for the modern age. The result is a truly mixed bag that holds your attention throughout its pleasantly concise eight episodes, but can’t hide the unevenness of the script. Overall, it’s a pretty standard spy story with some pretty standard cloak-and-dagger clichés that anyone familiar with old spy capers will recognize and even embrace fondly. The main problem is the uneven tone. The script jumps erratically between sharp, tongue-in-cheek action comedy and dark, heavy spy thriller, leaving you with too much to take in. However, it makes up for it with stylish, gritty action sequences with Whishaw and Knightley making a compelling pair of mismatched professionals, with Lancashire providing strong support for the icy, detached Type M commander. The spy thriller remains one of limitless possibilities, and Black Pigeons, despite its flaws, is a strong addition to the main film, with an interesting mystery at its heart, accompanied by strong performances and action. ***