X
  • 1987
  • R
  • Lorimar
  • 1 h 59 m
  • 1987
  • R
  • Lorimar
  • 1 h 59 m

Summary John Preston (Michael Caine) is a British Agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the "special relationship" between the two countries.

Directed By: John Mackenzie

Written By: George Axelrod, Richard Burridge, Frederick Forsyth

  • 1987
  • R
  • Lorimar
  • 1 h 59 m
  • 1987
  • R
  • Lorimar
  • 1 h 59 m

The Fourth Protocol

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 14 Critic Reviews
64
User Score Generally Favorable
8.0
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Summary John Preston (Michael Caine) is a British Agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the "special relationship" between the two countries.

Directed By: John Mackenzie

Written By: George Axelrod, Richard Burridge, Frederick Forsyth

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 14 Critic Reviews
64
57% Positive
8 Reviews
36% Mixed
5 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 14 Critic Reviews
64
57% Positive
8 Reviews
36% Mixed
5 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
An absorbing, intelligent and suspense-filled film... It's streamlined and rich at the same time -- like the best of the James Bond films, but serious.
By Desson Thomson FULL REVIEW
88
The Fourth Protocol is first-rate because it not only is a thriller, but it also pays attention to its characters and shows how their actions grow out of their personalities. Like Michael Caine's other recent British spy film, "The Whistle Blower," it is effective not simply because it's a thriller but also because for long stretches it simply is a very absorbing drama.
By Roger Ebert FULL REVIEW
75
The film likewise lurches here and there, but for the most part its aim is true. Action accelerates nicely, a series of pointless cuts to parallel action in Moscow and London provides a false but convincing sense of urgency, and not until the final moments do the filmmakers run out of steam. They have an answer for that, too, in the film's coda. [28 Aug 1987, p.D5]
By Bill Cosford FULL REVIEW
63
The movie is entertaining on a rudimentary, never-to-be-taken-seriously level. On the rare occasions when it does rise above the material, it's because Pierce Brosnan is chillingly effective as an assassin with the body temperature of a snake. [26 Aug 1987]
By Jay Scott FULL REVIEW
50
The Fourth Protocol was a great in-flight read, and it will probably be a great in-flight movie, too-though in a theater it looks a little pale and overextended. [28 Aug 1987, p.FC]
By Dave Kehr FULL REVIEW
50
What is missing is any real tension or psychological detail that might lend plausibility to all the hocus-pocus about East-West political and military intrigue.
FULL REVIEW
30
As The Fourth Protocol begins at the outside and curls its way into the center of its wildly complex plot, it becomes almost a "Saturday Night Live" spy spoof. We're saturated with detail: Where will the nested Russian folk-art dolls, the visiting violinist's patent-leather shoes and the American Air Force officer's randy wife fit into the Greater Scheme of Things? Gradually, as our eyes glaze over, it becomes very hard to care--and even harder to suppress a giggle.
By Sheila Benson FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 4 User Ratings
8.0
100% Positive
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 4 User Ratings
8.0
100% Positive
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Fourth Protocol, The Rank Organisation
Release Date Aug 28, 1987
Duration 1 h 59 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline If the Fourth Protocol is ever breached, there would be no warning, just a nuclear explosion from a bedsitter...The unthinkable has just begun...
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Awards

Mystfest
• 1 Nomination

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