Covert One: The Hades Factor

Movie runs for about 3 hours (as it was made for TV in two parts). Many portions were predictable in the second part. Though not as interesting as MI , it is worth watching once.

Great literature its not, but Robert Ludlum is hard to beat as a writer of suspense thrillers and COVERT ONE: THE HADES FACTOR is no exception. Writing the screenplay with Ludlum is Elwood Reid and together they have created a very fast moving tale of the threats of bio-terrorism, found in Mick Jackson a perfect match for a director, and gathered an exciting cast to make this 160 minute made-for-television movie fly by at tremendous speed.

The premise of the film involves the worst of all 'weapons of mass destruction' - biological warfare - and here the topic is dealt with in a fascinating manner that pulls the US Government into the fold as implicated in the feasibility of such warfare. Not possible? Well, watch the film and make up your own mind.

Stephen Dorff plays Jon Smith, a one time covert agent for the White House, who becomes ensnarled in a plot to release the Hades Virus (a hemorrhagic lethal variant of the Ebola virus) to destroy the US. Smith's girlfriend Dr. Amsden (Sofia Myles) works for the government in the department that watches for measures just such as this. When the plot to sell the virus (is it possibly a virus known to the US government as the Scimitar project?) falls into the hands of an agent Rachel Russell (Mira Sorvino), the confusion of who is working for whom unfolds and all manner of agents and FBI, CIA, etc agents tumble around the President (Anjelica Huston) trying to identify the true culprits and the race to stop the dissemination of the deadly virus. In the many roles of varying consequence are actors Blair Underwood, Danny Huston, Colm Meaney, Josh Hopkins, etc.

The film is not without its gruesome elements: what depiction of bio-terrorism could avoid that? But the pace and the action sequences and the many locations of the film make the story propel along at a fascinating pace and the actors hold their own despite some predictable moments. Though this obviously is a fiction novel and a good one at that, there is a degree of truth in all fiction and any time writers and artists can help us understand possibilities, we are the better informed for it. Recommended viewing.

Lovers of action movies, fans of TV series like '24', readers of Robert Ludlum novels and similar have good chances to like this movie. It starts very well, with three mysterious virus-related deaths and a failed transaction of bio-weapons in Berlin that leaves as well its dose or corpses and evolutes quickly in a national crisis type of story, sort of a combination between 'Outbreak' and '24'.

The film is well done, well acted, the pace of the action does not trail almost at all and the story has the kind of logic you would expect from such stories. The principal problem may be the format - the two and half hours are too long for a feature film (although we have seen many similar length films lately on big screens) and two short for a TV series.

The professionalism of filming and acting lends more on the feature film side. Stephen Dorff in the principal role is credible and likable, and the principal critic one can bring to his act is that he looks so much as Jack Bauer. Mira Sorvino, Sophia Myles, Blair Underwood, Colm Meaney are all at their place and give credible acts. The only mis-casting seemed to me to be Anjelica Houston, which did not seem to be very comfortable as a Madam President.

It's not great cinema, just fair entertainment. Action movie fans should not miss this film, the other can skip it without problems.

In part one of this CBS miniseries, three people become violently ill in different locations--one is a family man (and, we learn later, a marine) outside Camp Pendleton in southern California, one is a waitress in a Seattle diner, and a prisoner held at Guantanamo in Cuba.

Col. Jonathan Smith, formerly of Covert One, and his beautiful fiancée Dr. Sophie Amsden are called into action. It seems these people have a terrible disease which can be spread from person to person, and thousands could die if a cure cannot be found. The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) must find answers. At one point, we learn that 90 percent of those who get the virus die. And a lot of people are getting the virus.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, Rachel, a member of the Covert One team, is dealing with Chechens who have the deadly virus in tiny containers. Money changes hands in the basement of a dance club, in an office from which dancers can be seen through a glass ceiling. Rachel changes her appearance several times as she runs from those who might be out to get her, while at the same time searching for others who can help. In Paris, she finds a scientist who is familiar with the Afghanistan situation--that is where several marines who got sick were serving.

The second half focuses more on the search for information, and for a cure for the virus. No one sick is shown except for those who make direct contact with terrorists or government investigators. Though we hear the death toll rises from less than 1000, as the second installment begins, to 3000, with panic taking place at overburdened hospitals (we never see this either). And terrorists have the virus, and big plans to disperse it. Some people are trusted who shouldn't be (and vice versa), and unexpected plot twists keep showing up.

I had trouble following what was going on, but brief black-and-white flashbacks were shown in many cases to remind us who certain people were or why something was important. And seeing the people who were sick was really hard to watch. One particularly effective scene showed one marine being asked questions in the hospital. He came through admirably in spite of his obvious suffering.

As a spy thriller this does eventually succeed. There are lots of good acting performances, and I especially should single out Anjelica Huston as a U.S. President obviously not elected for her looks, and Colm Meaney as Peter, who plays a major role in the Afghanistan investigation. The tension level stays high, with lots of action toward the end.

The first part of the series was good as a movie in general. But I, being a fan of the book, was disappointed that the story was loosely based on the Gayle/Ludlum work. I have wanted them to make a movie out of this series of books for some time now. And I guess in my anticipation and already thinking about how the movie would be, I was a little angry. I can understand the director fast forwarding to recent events, but changing some of the backgrounds of the characters and COLONAL John Smith being out of USAMRID. But again, as a movie, without reading the book, this was a good story. Sorry, I just had to find a faucet to vent my thoughts.