Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

iain-218 This was poor and left me grieving for BBC Drama - who is going to make quality television if the BBC can't? It had a lot of the right ingredients - if they were re-making The Singing Detective, then Rufus Sewell would be a perfect choice, so it was only right that Michael Gambon played Sewell's older self. But the pace was slow, the plot became nonsense (was it perhaps originally a six part that was then cut down?), and the dialogue was awful. They left the worst til last though, the ending was truly dire leaving me regretting that I had spent 3 hours getting there - God knows how the actors and crew felt when they saw it, after all it took them a lot longer.Why is this 4 and not 1, because I like the genre.

postmortem-books This was watchable which sounds as if is damning with faint praise but since so much on TV is hyped beforehand and turns out to be poorly produced and/or acted it is good to be able to sit through 3 hours of drama and want to know how it all ends. Having said that if you are going to set a drama in a very recognisable historical setting it is just as well to get everything right otherwise nerds like me spot anomalies and we end up talking about what was wrong and not was right.The London Transport bus shown briefly in the 1940's scene was a Routemaster which was only introduced on to the streets in the early 60's. In the 1975 scene where the daughter visits Lord Romer we see a "P" reg Rolls Royce drive off. The "P" reg was issued in 1978. **SPOILER** Where did the young Eva learn her gun technique to bump off Alfie when she was specifically omitted from the gun training at spy camp? **SPOILER END** What was the point of Ruth's ex-lover turning up in the closing scenes? And why did the older Eva live in a remote cottage if she was frightened of someone bumping her off? The best place to hide would be in a busy city.Actually, the more one thinks about it the more plot holes open up so perhaps I had better stop now.

dalydj-918-255175 EPISODE #1:Another British spy drama starring some legendary British actors but also some newcomers to acting also from Britian. Set in the 70's the story is about Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery) who along with her son goes to meet her mother Sally Gilmartin (Charlotte Rampling). On this visit she finds out the truth that Sally's real name is Eva Delectorskaya (Hayley Atwell) and she was a spy for the British during the times of world war II. We then get flashbacks to the 30's-40's seeing the training Eva went through to become a spy because her brother was killed. While going through the training she meets Lucas Romer (Rufus Sewell) who becomes her closest Allie while being a spy. After one mission goes wrong and a dutch spy gets killed the thriller aspect of the story kicks into full gear. While we see these flashbacks going on back in present time Ruth still in shock now about the truth of her mother she agrees to help her mother stay safe while trying to get help from past friends of her mother. At the end of the first part of the miniseries we get our first look at the older Lucas Romer (Michael Gambon) as Ruth try's to get help from him for her mother. An impressive cast lead this story. The film is like a typical British spy thriller based in the past but the two connected times lines in something different for a change. The best performances in this first part came from Hayley Atwell and Charlotte Rampling who play the same character but in different points of the character's life. We were left with a cliff hanger with the reveal of Lucas Romer who is needed to keep Sally/Eva alive. Every detail in the clothes, sets and direction was spot in for the period that each part of the story was filmed. An impressive first part can only lead to a great conclusion in part two.EPISODE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Hayley Atwell)EPISODE #2:Part 2 and the final part of the miniseries. Still split between the two time periods we find out more about Eva's days in the states as a spy. In present times Ruth sits down to interview Lucas, when she asks some of her questions he becomes suspicious and ends the interview after asking more questions then she got to ask him. In the past we see Eva was made sleep with someone on a mission and she successfully did it but did not feel good about selling herself to him. Eva's other mission in the states involved her going to Albuquerque, New Mexico to get a package along with the $5,000 she was given to hand off to someone. She gets the package and looks at it to find some mistakes on the package. When she gives some of the money she returns back to her motel room only to have a gun held to her. The gun man takes the money off her but also makes her take her clothes off before leaving. She then drives them and once they stop she takes her chance to get free by stabbing him in the eye. She then covers her footsteps by making it took like a car crash. Eva believes she was sold but when she meets with Lucas he tells her she did better then anyone could have expected. Eva still worried she was set up now has the idea she made a mistake after Morris tells her she might have, however when Eva goes for a meeting with Morris she finds out the news that he committed suicide. This makes Eva come up with a plan to escape to Canada so she asks Sylvia to come with her. When they get to the border Eva escapes but Slyvia staying behind is killed. Once Eva gets to Canada she hears USA is know in the war also she has met her future husband. Eva escapes to London with her new husband. She meets Alfie in London finding out Angus was killed as well. During the London bombings Eva kills Alfie and also has to run from Lucas scared he might kill her. This ends the past and we return to modern times where Ruth is starting to worry about what her mother has been doing lately. At the end of the episode Eva finally confronts Lucas once again. She reveals that she now knows that Lucas was the spy of all spies. She does not kill him but once she leaves her injects himself to kill himself. Eva still questions revealing Ruth was her daughter but Ruth tells her not to worry. Once again the performances by Charlotte Ramplinbg and Hayley Atwell were very strong. Michael Gambon and Michelle Dockery were also great. The production value was also as strong and the thriller aspect to this part was even more thrilling then the first part. This was a great miniseries overall.EPISODE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Charlotte Rampling)

robert-temple-1 This gripping film was brilliantly directed by Edward Hall, who has previously directed six episodes of the TV series SPOOKS but is otherwise little known. I cannot imagine that now he will be little known for much longer. The film is from a screenplay by William Boyd, an adaptation of whose novel (by himself), ANY HUMAN HEART (2010, see my review) was truly spectacular. I would say that William Boyd is now one of the hottest things British television has got to offer to the world. Hayley Atwell does a truly brilliant job of playing the lead in this new film, just as she excelled in Boyd's earlier series. This film is a new variation of the British traitor theme, and concerns a devilishly cunning double agent. Atwell plays the young Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian émigré fluent in English and other languages, who is recruited as a British spy in 1939. The film begins in the current day, when Eva is played with steely conviction by the indomitable Charlotte Rampling, who was for so long every thinking man's choice of the ideal tea partner, if crumpet was to be served. Really, I do think Charlotte Rampling could convince anyone of anything. If she had not been an actress she could have made a fortune as a salesman. Even now that the film is over, I still believe she is out there with her sawn-off shotgun ready to protect herself from the people who want her dead because she knows too much. The screenplay, as is to be expected, coming as it does from Boyd, is sensationally well crafted. All the cast are excellent. Rufus Sewell has matured into a most interesting actor who has gone beyond youth into becoming a real man at last. For too long he was the thrusting young man. Now he can get all those good solid grown-up parts which suit him so much better. He does a wonderful job here as the spy master Lucas Romer, who in the present day scenes is played with his usual powerful presence by Michael Gambon. Young Michelle Dockery plays the daughter of Rampling. We can see her character visibly maturing on the screen, as the action brings out that rare thing in a movie, true character development. At the beginning of the film, when Rampling announces to her daughter that her name is Eva Delectorskaya, Dockery thinks she must be getting Aldzheimers or something, and says: 'Nonsense, you're my mother. Your name is Sally Gilmartin', as if she were a nurse calming a patient. But gradually the truth begins to dawn, and it is not long before they enter into a double game as a team to flush out the threat to Rampling's life. There are many heart-stopping moments. But the central glowing presence on the screen which makes everything work so convincingly is Hayley Atwell. She was named by her parents after Hayley Mills, as so many thousands of British girls were. (Hayley was only a surname until Hayley Mills was given it as a first name, her mother being Mary Hayley-Bell. William Hayley, 1745-1820, their ancestor, was a distinguished minor English poet of the 19th century and a close friend of William Blake.) So maybe talent is hereditary, passing down through anyone named Hayley. Just a thought! The seamless interweaving between past and present in this film (well, I say film, it was shown in two episodes on the BBC and is thus technically a mini-series, I suppose, though with a running time altogether of only 3 hours) is done with considerable finesse. Everything seems to have come together to make RECKLESS a total success, and that splendid achievement was anything but reckless. More, please!