Issue 149

The Knowledge: 'The Spy Thriller'

20th November 2006

It is little wonder that a world tormented by two very real wars and one that could be decided at the push of a button have left us a little suspicious of one another; and as we search manically for the intruder, trust becomes an issue. The cat amongst the pigeons can be smooth (Bond), reluctant (Cary Grant in North By Northwest) or, perhaps, a little too obvious (Austin Powers). Born out of suave manipulation and enough double crosses to render a Connect- Four entirely confusing, the spy genre remains prominent today as it ever was, sat with a gun quietly concealed in its ankle-holster menacingly generating ever elaborate ways to suck the viewer in and keep the tension high.

Falling into either the 'realistic'; such as The Ipcress File and the Jason Bourne films, or 'fantasy'; pertaining to films like Bond, xXx and Mission Impossible, where the action is notched up to eleven but real espionage is rarely on show. The genre enjoyed its heyday in the 1960s during the suspense and paranoia of the Cold War, and experienced something of a revival in the 90s when audiences craved a little more depth to the standard action fare.

Ultimately, the draw of spy films is curiosity, but don't get over curious or you may end up swimming with sharks, mutated shark, with laser beams on their heads!...or something equally elaborate.

Chris Sloley