Thoroughly Enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (10 November 2005)

First let me just say that saw this film on television so I may have missed some bits that were edited out for whatever reason.
I though the film was enjoyable. The story moved along at a nice pace, there were various subplots to bolster the film when the pace starts to lag, and the acting was good. What more is there?
I liked this film, it was romantic and I don't mean the romantic love sort, though there enough of that, the characters in the film emoted a sort of romance, a kind of noble what-have-you nonchalance in the bleakest of conditions(and gosh was everything grey and weary, afterward I had to reassure myself that the world actually comes in Technicolour)that I suppose only war films could create.
My one complaint is that I find the Joseph Fiennes character rather unbelievable. Here is an educated intelligent man who is brought down by his emotions. His final scene with Jude Law I thought to be unbelievable, his bitterness toward his government comes as a surprise and his suicide can only be described as rash and impulsive. I would have thought that his character is would be ruled less by his heart than by his head.
But other than that, it is a movie to just sit back and enjoy.