Writer-director Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's widely-read novel is an honorable failure, a screen version that's actually
too faithful to its source. Bob Hoskins stars as Verloc, a member of a Soho anarchist organization who also serves as
a spy for the Russian Embassy in London, keeping them informed of his group's revolutionary activities. When he's ordered to act as an agent provocateur by his Embassy contact, staging an "outrage" by setting off a bomb in the Greenwich Observatory in order to call attention to the anarchist
problem, Verloc cruelly enlists the unwitting aid of his simpleminded brother-in-law, Stevie (Christian Bale)....
Released:
1996
Rated:
R
Length:
94 mins