Directed by Michael Apted

Written for the screen by the great (and quite off-centre!) Dennis Potter, from a novel by Martin Cruz Smith; the main difference between this film and other crime thrillers of the era is that the setting is in Gorky Park, Moscow. But apart from the importing of Lada cars for the film to Helsinki, Finland (the actual location of the film); authenticity of the movie?s location deserts from that point because of the dialogue in this production, and becomes a ?de jour? Hollywood tarradiddle.

The film opens under the opening credits with three bright young things enjoying a spot of recreational ice skating, followed by the discovery of three shallow graves near to the iced-over pool. Heading up the murder case is Chief Investigator Renko (William Hurt) who quickly realises that this is no ordinary murder scene ? the victims? faces and fingerprints have been removed, the investigation team is disrupted at an early stage by the KGB, and the murder weapon appears to be a KGB issue type of pistol!

The movie then goes through a rather complicated set of storylines that reaches a conclusion that reflects motives of straight out crime and greed (an overseas sable dealer exporting live animals out of Russia) and internal corruption of Russian authorities in seeking a resolution to the matter. At the same time - having an understanding of the nature of intelligence organisations in ?western? countries - I can see little difference in the outcome of this film from many other movies of the same period.

I don?t have many real complaints about the storyline, except that the ending was a little crass and disappointing - a little too ?cutesy? - even though the ?hero? doesn?t get his lady at the end of the film. But at the same time, the possibility is left open?

I do have to say that I was somewhat confused by the opening premise. The mutilation of the bodies to cover-up the nature of the crime and protect those involved seemed a complete waste of time - to me, the whole conspiracy theory would never have been entertained had the murders been ?conventional?.

William Hurt is quite capable in the role of the cop ? but NOT as a Russian cop - at the same time, this may not be the fault of the actor (and others)? The film suffers from a severe lack of credibility in that characters from all nationalities communicate with each other with no language, dialect or cultural difficulty - a clearly ludicrous situation when we face these obvious difficulties in day-to-day life.

The dialogue alludes to typically Hollywood-speak, and the complete lack of an attempt at Russian accents (barring one character) destroys any credibility to the film as a whole. As for the other cast members; Brian Dennehy is an actor that usually fails to impress ? in this case he?s half reasonable! Lee Marvin ? despite his superb, paralysing voice, is well past his prime as the archetypal tough guy - though at the conclusion he is closer to his old evil self. Joanna Pacula is pretty, as well as pretty-well effective - though in a pivotal moment she can?t help saying ?caaant? after her previous attempts at a Russian accent! Even the one man with an allusion to a Russian name (Alexei Sayle) is guilty of adding his best Queen?s English accent to his Russian character throughout his relatively short appearance!

THE EXTRAS

Apart from the standard language and chapter access menus, there is a widescreen theatrical trailer. To my surprise, the trailer actually does fill the entire screen!

CONCLUSION

Overall this is a slightly disappointing film. The direction lacks an ?edge? that would take it out of the ordinary, apart from unnecessary gory ?shock? scenes to bolster the intensity of the storyline. Apart from that, the major concern is the lack of communication difficulties between characters from different nations, that could have been used as a subtext to heighten the intrigue of the production.