Five highly-trained KGB agents are sent to the west to assassinate several Soviet dissidents. In order to stop the diabolical plot, an American agent must infiltrate Soviet intelligence and obtain information from a Russian computer.
Acting
Sam Neill's slippery charisma as a KGB agent you weirdly root for.
Production
Gloriously dated Soviet computer room that looks like a disco had a baby with NASA.
Director
Jeannot Szwarc
Martin Sheen
Alex Holbeck
Brigitte Fossey
Karen Reinhardt
Sam Neill
Dimitri Vasilikov
Derek Jacobi
Kurt Limmer
Michael Lonsdale
Bodley
Frank Finlay
Canarsky
Warren Clarke
Konstantin
Michael Williams
Hirsch, Limmer's Assistant
David Baxt
Melton
Kevin McNally
Bruno
Michel Auclair
Doctor
Alan Adair
Féodor Atkine
Patrick Bauchau
Russian Soldier (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Szwarc was fresh off Jaws 2 and Somewhere in Time when he took this on, making this his 'serious spy phase' between blockbusters and television work.
Released during Reagan's Evil Empire rhetoric, the film's sympathetic Russian characters and critical CIA portrayal made it oddly transgressive for mainstream 1982.
US
