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STEPHEN'S MOVIE GUIDE

North Sea Hijack (1980)

Review: written Sep 2009

Hokum – but fun taken with a dollop of salt

North Sea Hijack (1980)

Leave your brains at the door, and bring out the popcorn to have a chuckle at this dated but still fun thriller. Well, let's face it - it's a comedy thriller. Thriller ingredients are all there - an oil platform has been booby trapped and a ransom demanded by a sinister terrorist (back when terrorists were just out to get money and there was no need to explain any political agenda..). The government can't risk a naval assault, Admiral James Mason explains.. and so the eccentric Scottish Laird and his private band of ex service men who do odd jobs for Lloyds are brought in to save the day. The thrills are so-so, the production obviously limited in budget to just a few sets, the bridge of the boat and the main office of the platform mostly. The photography is uninteresting and even verging on overexposed.. but what makes this so much fun is Moore, clearly having a ball deconstructing his Bond persona playing the oddball, women hating, cat-loving, whisky guzzling Ffolkes. Perkins is straight forwardly convincing as the hijacker, James Mason says his lines like he is supposed to, and David Hedison takes a break from playing Felix in the Bond movies to fill in here as the Manager of the platform.

Ok, it's nothing special.. even the release on disc shows a distinct lack of any extras or something luxurious such as picture remastering or sound upgrade from the original stereo soundtrack. Basically it shouldn't keep you from anything better you have to do - but it earns its 3 stars in entertainment factor in the joy of seeing Moore having so much fun.

North Sea Hijack (1980)

This movie may well leave you checking to see how long until it finishes...





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