Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Kit Harrington, Peter Firth, Tuppence Middleton, Jennifer Ehle, David Harewood, Tim McInnerny, Lara Pulver, Elyes Gabel, Eleanor Matsuura, Laura Swift, Shina Shihoko Nagai, Ronan Summers, Elizabeth Conbiy, Michael Wildman, Cosmo Jarvis, Lasco Atkins, Elliot Levvy, Graham Curry, Lee Asquith-Coe, Hugh Simon.

Just because the threat to national security is not to be seen, doesn’t mean it’s not there. The same goes it seems for television programmes; just because they are not on every week and being part of the nation’s lunch time natter, doesn’t mean that stories haven’t been envisaged, it just means that when the opportunity strikes, it is wheeled out without due recourse or consideration.

Such was the tremendous appeal of Spooks it is hardly any wonder that it ran for as long as it did on television, slick and stylish, it made viewers squeamish as even the biggest star in the series when it first began couldn’t be saved from the terrifying combination of chip fat and a battery.

Then it was decommissioned like an errant spy who had run his luck for too long and was playing off both sides. Well drawn upon stories and characters don’t die for long though and in the big screen version of the B.B.C. series, Spooks: The Greater Good, the team led by Sir Harry Pearce returns as if they had never been away, however with new faces surrounding him and the only person of recognisable stature on his side being seen more of an enemy than a friend, it is perhaps a concern of where the greater good actually lays in a story that at times feels thin on the ground.

Whilst returning to old characters to see how they may have changed or developed over the course of hiatus and cancellation is quite a tempting thought, the fact that only two of the main cast are from the days of the television series and the small nod to the great Malcolm, played with affection by Hugh Simon, makes it feel a little flavourless. Despite how good as actors both Tim McInnerny and Peter Firth are, without actors beside them you can believe in fully, the story line just becomes a pastiche of what has gone before.

The notable exceptions of Tuppence Middleton as June and David Harewood as Warrender, both of whom bought gravitas to their respective roles, was cut short as they truly weren’t given enough time on screen to have the impact they deserved. Even the ever reliable Lara Pulver and Jennifer Ehle being in the film did little to give it true edge and for that the entire effect that was to be gained, disappeared with a damp whimper rather than a true explosive return.

Some ideas are too good to keep from audiences; however for the greater good of cinema goers, if there is another dip into the life of the British Secret Services, it can only be hoped that the premise meets the expectation.

An average return for what should have been an exhilerating classic.

Ian D. Hall