MI-3

m:i:III
Originally uploaded by dangunderman.

I went to the New York premiere of MI-3 last night, and it was not what I expected. At all.

MI-5 is one of my favorite shows ever, and since this is a prequel, obviously two years before the original takes place, I don't think it was too much to ask that they at least get the stars of the BBC series. Where was Matthew MacFadyen? Where was the dreamiest of all dreams, Keeley Hawes? Michael Ogunkwockomovich? Nowhere to be found. In fact, the role of Danny was being played by a different bald black man, one a lot thicker in the middle than Michael Ogunksgoughshele and with a lesser sense of style.

So, OK, maybe you can rationalize that all those characters were too junior to be in the prequel. Maybe they were still getting their "spook" training or whatever, and that's fine, I guess, but I still expect to see a young Peter Firth and a hot Jenny Agutter lurking about. Nothing.

Instead, they got this total unknown. Tom Something-or-Other, and he was running around like a lunatic chasing some guy that looked like Truman Capote, only with a normal voice. But what was most disturbing was that they didn't even try to do the British accents. It was like Kevin Costner in Robin Hood all over again.

It made for a muddled, confusing film. I mean, what the hell are these American blokes doing in the British secret service, anyway? Very disappointing. When it comes time to do MI-1, MI-2, and MI-4, I hope they'll be a little more faithful to the source material.

Stupid Hollywood.