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Ghost Canyon

'Masterpiece: Worricker - Salting the Battlefield'
(Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy, Christopher Walken, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter, et al / DVD / NR / 2014 / PBS)

Overview: The thrilling conclusion to the Worricker spy trilogy. MI5 officer Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) and Margot Tyrell (Helena Bonham Carter) are on the run together across Europe, going from town to town in Germany. But Worricker knows his only chance of resolving his problems is to return home and confront his nemesis the prime minister, Alec Beasley (Ralph Fiennes).

DVD Verdict: The Johnny Worricker trilogy concludes with 'Salting the Battlefield.' Our hero with his ex girlfriend, Margot (Helena Bonham-Carter) are crisis-crossing Europe trying to stay one step ahead of the security services and a vengeful Prime Minister. However if you must go out for a coffee early in the morning then chances are you will be spotted.

Worricker is being watched, his family and friends are being watched. He is running out of cash and he needs to make a move to reach an endgame.

The film does not mention a date, the name of the governing political party but we can guess this is a New Labour administration set a few years ago and although writer/director has stated that Alec Beasley is a new type of Prime Minister and Ralph Fiennes gives him a healthy dash of Lambert La Roux (The media mogul from a previous Hare play, Pravda) we can sense there is a lot of Tony Blair imbued in the character and events.

We do reach an end game as Worricker feeds the press and confronts the Prime Minister, not without Beasley asking difficult but loaded questions in return which was a very New Labour thing to do.

The Worricker trilogies have been enjoyable, despite the location shooting they were very much glorified stage plays, almost bottle dramas. I did feel Hare the writer would had benefited from someone else directing who would had bought a more visual flair and pacy action.

What we do get are uniformly well acted dramas, bravely led by a very feline Bill Nighy, but they required more demands from the viewers than it needed because it was stilted here and there. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Feature of a Making Of Featuring Interviews with Cast & Crew.

www.PBS.org





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