TV Review: Extremely Dangerous (1999)

Synopsis:

A highly trained undercover agent with Britain’s secret services, Neil Byrne’s (Sean Bean), wife and daughter were heinously murdered and he was charged and convicted with the murder. While serving his double life sentences, he was being transferred to another prison when he escaped by jumping out a bathroom window of the moving train. He is now a target with nothing to lose. He goes undercover to find out who killed his family, was it the mob that he was undercover to expose, his own agency, or the police? Could it even have been him?

Review:

The film ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes so not only was it Extremely Dangerous, but extremely long. Ponderously so and could have used a spot of editing. There was an opportunity for a tight narrative that was squandered here. The plot was great, and far more complex than The Fugitive, where the killer was the ever elusive one armed man. But this film was made for television and so had to fit into 4 episodes of 50 minutes apiece.

The acting was brilliant; kudos to the whole cast. I especially liked the taxi dispatcher Ali Khan (Nitin Ganatra) which was played with much pluck and humor. Sean Bean did a great job as a man struggling with the loss of his entire family and wrongly convicted of it. He gets to play the secret agent who can kill with a glance and does a super job of that too.

Because of the length of the film I can only give it

**** of five stars.