Half Moon Street

source: Half Moon Street

Half Moon Street

This tale of an American academic confronting sexism, snobbery and so on while getting mixed up in Middle East politics because she becomes an expensive escort seemed very with it when it was released but now seems very dated. Its view of feminism is pretty narrow. Michael Caine plays Michael Caine and Signourney Waver stands around talking about pretrodollars. The film does not aim for eroticism, but despite that shows plenty of Ms Weaver semi-naked. The ending is a cop-out, and also features an unbelievably incompetent hit man.

Even though their is a lot of people who say this and the book are dull, I disagree. Adapted from Dr. Slaughter, this is a fairly well written, well photographed, and very well acted movie. The premise is original and the film really does score (no pun intended). Respectable 8/10.

Before I give you my opinion of this movie, I must tell you that I bought it just for the fact that Sigourney Weaver was in it. Back in late '93 - early '94, I was just becoming one of Ms. Weaver's fans. I bought the video from a little video store close to my house. When I watched it, it was (and still is!) a real treat to see a topless Ms. Weaver. Not only is she topless in more than one place in the film, the whole "famous exercise bike" scene has to rank as one of the top ten seduction scenes in my book! That having been said, as the years have passed, I've grown to like the rest of the movie for what it is: a romance/political suspense movie. I have yet to read the book, but I hope to sometime. All in all, a great movie!

The premise was good. A young, attractive scientist moonlights as a call girl for money for scientific research and gets caught in an international web of intrigue and danger. However,as good as Sigourney Weaver and Michael Caine are,the film is dull.The supporting cast walks theough their roles and by the time the climax comes Its too late. Actually the only well done scene is the climax.When the counter agent is finally revealed (actor's identity no revealed her for spoiler reasons)He takes Weaver by surprise and one of the most realistic fight scenes in a film occurs...ending with Weaver being rendered helpless by a brutal punch in the stomach. the scene is so real that it seems like it belonged in another film. My advice is to skip this one..A Valiant attempt..but a big miss.

Half Moon Street is basically an average film with some good talent in it. From the reviews this is a movie people either love or hate, but I think the elements balance each other out and the end result lands it in the middle of the film quality spectrum. Sigourney Weaver comes across totally convincingly as a Mid East scholar who becomes an escort by night to make ends meet (anyone who is a fan of hers will probably appreciate her many * scenes!). Michael Caine also gives a good performance as an English lord trying to broker a secret Middle East peace deal. Where this film falters is in the script, which is too talky and it seems to take a long time for the story to get going. The last twenty minutes is well filmed and exciting, but there is a lot of plodding to go through before the good part arrives. Fans of Caine and/or Weaver will probably love it; for everyone else, not really a bad film, but not really great either.

The premiss may be a bit far-fetched but this screen version of Paul Theroux's novel "Doctor Slaughter" is surprisingly robust and very enjoyable. Sigourney Weaver is the underpaid American working for the Middle East Institute in London who decides to supplement her income by working for an escort agency. However, things get murky when one of her clients turns out to be Michael Caine's diplomat charged with brokering an Israeli/Arab peace deal. Has Sigourney been set up and if so, by whom? It's hardly believable, of course, but the director, Bob Swaim, ensures it moves at a fair clip though he does play down the thriller aspect to beef up the love story that develops between Caine and Weaver. He also keeps you guessing as to who is doing what to whom. It wasn't a success but it's also a lot better than its critical reputation might suggest.