I was so disappointed with the film. The opening scene was so lovely. Harking back to the old days of black and white movie classics. I had expected the storytelling and script to be so much better. I prefer to watch European detective stories because they usually offer either a more realistic angle or a plot or delight the audience with fantastically witty humour which the American thrillers often lack. Not so this time. I wonder if Mr. Hare created this boring and stiffly acted out drivel just to bring about his own political world view on Palestinians and thus have this silly off handed go at the Israelis. These actors could have done so much better than this. What a waste of their fantastic talent! I fell asleep at then end and woke up just in time to see the last comment made by MI5 officer Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy). "Change the channel" "I wanna hear some Jazz". My sentiments entirely! Don't bother watching this when you could be spending your time listening to some awesome jazz instead. Oh and the 1 point I have given this movie went to, you guessed it, to the jazz of course.

Bill Nighy as a spy, David Hare writing and directing, how could Page Eight fail.The answer is of course it did not fail, it produced two sequels to create an odd 'Worricker trilogy' that nobody other than BBC bigwigs wanted. But is Page Eight any good? No.It's slow, it's talky, with lots of self indulgent dialogue that goes nowhere. It's Aaron Sorkin's West Wing in the UK but without the charm that goes with it.I can't fault Nighy's performance, as ever he's fab, but dear me this drags.The sequel 'Turks and Cacaos' actually ditches some of the talking about nothing and attempts to tell a decent story, so I'd watch that instead if I were you.

The BBC has, over the past few years, quietly slipped out made for TV movies concerning the adventures of ageing ex MI-5 agent Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy). Now, while they are lower budget and only air on cable (after which they nonchalantly lurk on netflix for a little bit) they are really well produced films that utilize some of the best actors in the business, and definitely deserve more attention than they've been getting. Page Eight is my favorite of of the series, and plays like a slow burning cloak and dagger yarn with shades of Le Carré and just a subtle hint of the 007 aesthetic. This is a story where the espionage lies not in fast cars, gunfights and action set pieces, but in terse conversation, shadowy political intrigue and laconic confrontation. Nighy, who never misses a beat in his work and really blows the mind with both skill and versatility, plays Johnny with a dimming rogues charisma and warmhearted sensibility. He navigates the many people in his life including his daughter (Felicity Jones has a terrific scene with him), ex wife (Alice Krige), old boss (Michael Gambon), and cranky MI-5 colleague (Judy Davis). The plot thickens when a bereaved girl (Rachel Weisz) who suffered the loss of family member in the middle east conflict, comes to Johnny for help. She believes her relative came across a document with some grim implications regarding Britain's involvement over there, and seeks the truth. Johnny dusts off the old spy game manual and does some sleuthing, arousing suspicion of some people in high places, including the sleazy Prime Minister himself (a dry, nasty Ralph Fiennes). The factual plot line is supported by the human element from Weisz and Nighy, each looking for both answers and redemption in their own right. It's a nice little package of a film with a wickedly pleasing finale, and solid work from every actor across the board.

Take two twelve bottle cases of wine and stack one on top of the other.. then try carrying them both in one arm, while you're carrying something else in the other.. oh yea, and make it look totally easy, like there was nothing inside the two boxes.. (cause obviously there wasn't)!! And that's only one example of just how absurd parts two and three of this trilogy eventually become. Page Eight was really good enough (gorgeous RW), and I was so looking forward to the other two segments. But it was like night and day.. as if part one was made in Britain, and two and three in the US. The 7 rating is for part one.. two and three deserve no more than a 5.. and that's being overly generous.