The Tailor Of Panama (2001)

A calculating and ruthless British MI6 agent (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to Panama as a punishment for some personal indiscretions. He blackmails a tailor (Geoffrey Rush) into spying for him but when he is unable to provide any creditable information ... the tailor fabricates "facts". This soon spirals into a disaster of international proportions. Based on the novel by John Le Carre and directed by John Boorman (HOPE AND GLORY), both of who co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Davies. Although I have some minor issues with it, this is a first rate spy thriller, cynical and sardonic. It neatly encases the messiness and corruption of international politics and the intelligence field in general. Rush is excellent but Brosnan tries too hard to distance himself from his Bond persona (he was still playing Bond at the time) and by doing so, he seems more James Bond than ever! In an unfortunate piece of casting, Brendan Gleeson is miscast as a Panamanian ex-revolutionary and he's about as Panamanian as St. Patrick! But those quibbles don't seriously hinder the film's dark and nightmarish and often comic insights. With Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Radcliffe, Harold Pinter, Catherine McCormack, Martin Ferrero, Jon Polito, Jonathan Hyde and Leonor Varela.