Robert Ludlum’s Covert One – The Hades Factor
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: D Telefilm/Mini-Series: B-
With the Jason Bourne films a hot commodity, it is no
surprise other Robert Ludlum material old and new would be coming at us and
Sony has issued the recent Covert One – The Hades Factor on DVD as a
long TV movie at 165 minutes, though this is certain to have been (and will be)
shown as a mini-series by default. The
ever-reliable Stephen Dorff is an agent who has a good job and a great girlfriend
also involved in the same espionage business he is, but not to the extent he
thought. It turns out there is a deadly
virus Islamic terrorists want to launch on the public and they may have inside
help. Before he realizes something is
amiss, a mysterious young woman (Mira Sorvino) is already trying to find out
some secrets while holding others, which makes her an automatic target.
The cats also includes Blair Underwood and Angelica
Houston as The President of The United States, but it also includes many actors
who might be recognizable but unknown to most and some foreign actors who are
pretty good as well. The two shortfalls
of this is its desire to be the series 24, a show Dorff should have been
on by now. Also, the fights are not as
interesting, it runs on a bit longer than it should and becomes too predictable
towards the end. Some moments are just
not believable and stretch believability, yet it is enjoyable enough to catch
once since it actually works more often than not. Hope Ludlum gets more filmed adaptations going.
The anamorphically enhances 1.78 X 1 image is pretty good
for a TV production, with detail, depth and color more consistent than
expected. There are several
cinematographers shooting in several locations and some money was definitely
put on the screen. The Dolby Digital
5.0 mix is not bad, though many .1 opportunities were sadly lost by this
choice. The combination is pleasant,
but not up to the sound design on the Jason Bourne features, though it is
better than the older Bourne Identity TV mini-series Warner issued not
too long ago on DVD. There are no
extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
