Review of My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004) by Frank H — 16 Feb 2008

This movie bills itself as an action and adventure flick...I used it in place of a valium. It was shot in 18 days and it shows it. The plot devices were slow and clumsy. And for a woman who is supposedly trained in an ancient martial art, this Modesty, fights like a third grade girl in cat fight over a barbie.

For those of you who are diehard Modesty Blaise fans, the DVD contains an interview with Peter O'Donnel, who is charming and sweet, despite the fact we much watch him through a dirty camera lens with insufficient lighting.

Finally, on the DVD extras is an interview with Scott Spiegel, the director, and Quentin Taratino, the film's "presenter." This interview was on one level an ode to "geekitude" and as such was painful to watch.

On another level it served to point out the inarticulacy which Taratino suffers from and his power in the film world, simultaneously reinforced by his familiar references to the Weinstein brothers and director Scott Spiegel's fawning agreement with everything that Quentin Tarantino had to say.

For true Modesty Blaise fans, we are left wondering if a good rendition of a favorite heroine will come to fruition. At least they didn't sing!