This is a bad boy who dispatches friends and lovers emotionally with the zeal Bond uses to dispatch baddies physically. The schemer sizes up his embassy superiors as inferiors and goes looking for a wise local. Initially reticent, Harry starts getting used to the money he gets in exchange for information. It's a lie, but the story has taken on a life of its own once a worried America starts throwing around money intended for an equally bogus underground supposedly fighting to maintain the status quo. In his fifth decade of filmmaking, Brit Boorman can still paint in rich story details, though it's all seen through a world-weary European life view.
Nothing is worn-out about the leads, however.
Brosnan and Rush are a smooth fit, playing off each other like a snappy shirt and tie. I arritu's first theatrical feature is a grabber for just over 2 hours. Dogs figure in each of three semi-connected episodes, both as pets and contenders in dogfights. Story No. 2 is more upscale, though with a literally seedy foundation. The manner in which he turns the tables on his clueless client provides some humor the movie obviously needs.