Film #176 - My Name is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2003)
Viewed June 25, 2006
My Name Is Modesty is the second attempt to bring Modesty Blaise to the big screen following 1996’s Modesty Blaise. The earlier film takes a very stylist look at the character, sending up the spy films of the day and really going towards a “camp” feel (must to the annoyance of fnas). My Name is Modesty attempts to be truer to the original comics and novels. While it may have succeeded in this respect, the final product is still lacking. Fans will probably enjoy it for its faithfulness, non-fans will be bored by much of the “action”.
Apparently, My Name is Modesty is, like the 1994 Fantastic Four movie, a contractual obligation film. That is, the studio needed to make a movie to retain the rights to the character, so this one was rushed into production. It shows.
First, most of the action (about 75%, I’d say) takes place in a single room and features people just talking. Much of the remaining material is location footage shot in non-descript locales with very few extras, meaning the film has no real sense of place. I never actually believed they were in Bosnia or any of the other places they were meant to be. It’s obvious that many corners were being cut.
From the interview on the DVD, it seems that “presenter” Quentin Tarantino is a big Modesty fan. If he had only taken a stronger interest in this project, maybe it would have turned out better, but in the hands of director Scott “I co-wrote Evil Dead 2” Spiegel, the whole thing is too disjointed. There’s no real character development or actual story, just an excuse for backstory exposition and a rather simplistic origin for Modesty.
Not that the whole thing fails. As a character study, it sometimes works quite well. Modesty’s strong relationship with the antagonist Miklos is the center of the whole film and, thankfully, it’s convincing. Niklos’ schemes to get the truth out of Modesty concerning her past is often entertaining and does keep things on track. It degenrates at the end, but still works most of the time. The flashbacks are less successful, not really filling in the blanks emotionally, more just marking the time that has passed.
The leads do a nice job with the characters, particularly Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Miklos. He and Alexandra Staden, who plays Modesty, have good chemistry and were at least able to hold my attention. Staden is best when she’s playing the cool and calculating Modesty. When she needs to become the kick-ass Modesty, she’s not nearly as convincing. (She’s too skinny and gangly to really do the things she’s shown doing.) But since that’s a small portion of the film, it doesn’t ruin it. The supporting cast is not nearly as strong, mostly just bodies to fill roles.
As these kinds of productions go, My Name is Modesty does better than it probably deserves to. It’s not a great work, but certainly nothing to be terribly ashamed of. As I stated before, fans of Modesty Blaise will appreciate the attention to detail. At only about 70 minutes, others might enjoy it for the cat-and-mouse stuff, but otherwise they’d be better off watching Modesty Blaise (singing Willie Garvin and all).