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We might come to spy films for the fast cars, flying bullets and double-crosses but we stay for the complex characters that stake out the genre’s treacherous landscape. Over the years, spies have shown up in the skin of various personalities – the patriotic muscleman, the sophisticated womanizer, the sketchy lowlife who feels the pull of a higher calling and the civilian caught up in an unfamiliar game. With each rendition, it has become clear that the spy fiction genre – which finds its beginnings close to the inception of film itself – is here to stay. Shifting focus away from the popular franchises (James Bond, Bourne and the Mission Impossible series), we pick our favourite espionage films across languages, eras and streaming platforms.
Where: Amazon Prime Video (Paid)
Saboteur, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 espionage thriller film, has the beginnings of his much superior and more frenetic North by Northwest (1959) – an everyman caught up in a vile conspiracy, a daring cross-country chase and ambitious sequences. Barry Kane (played by Robert Cummings, Hitchcock’s reluctant choice due to the actor having an “assuming face”) is framed for setting fire to the Stewart Aircraft Works – an event that leads to the death of his best friend. Kane suspects a man named Frank Fry (Norman Llyod, “a very fine actor” according to Hitchcock) is behind the fire, a spy working at the behest of Germany. When the police refuse to believe him, Kane flees police custody and embarks on an adventure that takes us from California to New York, accompanied by his kidnapped accomplice/potential future lover, Pat Martin (Pricilla Lane). The two discover a conspiracy that implicates aristocrats and police officers, eventually leading to a dizzying (and memorable) climax at the top of the Statue of Liberty. As a country newly at war, America was deeply suspicious of German spies – an opportunity Hitchcock juices in a timely fashion with Saboteur. Despite being considered a lesser product when compared to the filmmaker’s other prestigious work, we find Saboteur to be tirelessly fun and definitely worth a watch.
Where: Amazon Prime Video (Paid)
Granted that this is less a spy movie and more a movie about spies, Burn After Reading has such a whacky, humorous energy that we can’t help but count this in. Written, directed, edited and produced by the Coen Brothers, the film revolves around two daft employees at the local gym (‘Hardbodies’) who mistakenly find a former CIA analyst’s memoir and think they’ve hit a goldmine. A foolhardy blackmail plan is set into motion which soon escalates into meetings with (what seems like) the Russian embassy. Parellelly, multiple love affairs bloom, connecting unlikely paths and leading to random murders. Burn After Reading has a cast that is indefatigably entertaining to watch: John Malkovich as the beleaguered ex-CIA analyst, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand as the gym employees along with Tilda Swinton and George Clooney.
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Vishwaroopam is one of the many examples of Kamal Haasan’s genius at work. In the spy thriller written and co-produced by him, Haasan also takes up the mantle of the lead role. The film, in many ways, is a straightforward masala action movie – there is a hyper-capable masculine hero, a Muslim-Hindu angle, two heroines and plenty of gunfire. But Haasan adds his own subtle twists to the genre – granting his hero femininity here and inserting a little commentary on gun violence there. Without these touches, Vishwaroopam is as entertaining as a big Hollywood action movie but with them, it’s even better.
Where: Tubi
In 2013, with Kal Ho Naa Ho’s sweet shadow looming large over his career, it was hard to imagine Nikkhil Advani making an espionage thriller. But make an espionage thriller he did, and how. D-Day follows a group of RAW agents and their mission to extract India’s most wanted D-company leader, Goldman (played by Rishi Kapoor), alive. Apart from its taut pacing and well-written characters, Advani delivers a standout climax scene, voicing the nation’s helplessness about corruption and our fickle relationship with justice. The film stars Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi and Nassar, along with Kapoor and Irrfan – the passing of whom coats this watch with bittersweet nostalgia.
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
A single glance at Gary “Uggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) could tell you that he was headed towards prison – the man regularly dabbled in petty theft, drugs and mindless crime. Uggsy had once shown immense talent at the Royal Marines before he chose to drop out. When he is arrested for stealing a car, he is bailed out by a dapper gentleman who breezily demolishes a gang of men who talk to him a bit rudely. Harry Hart (Colin Firth) informs Uggsy that he is a member of the Kingsman, a private intelligence service based out of a seemingly ordinary tailor shop, and so was Uggsy’s father. With a position empty in the Kingsman, Uggsy must prove his worth (one of the challenges includes skydiving without knowing if he has a functional chute) and bring down the villainous Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). Kingsman: The Secret Service is rip-roaring delight, winking constantly and irreverently at the legacy and tropes of the James Bond franchise. If you enjoy a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and have a stomach for carnage, this one’s for you.
Where: Amazon Prime Video
If you’re a fan of espionage action thrillers, you’ve probably heard of John Le Carré. The British/Irish author’s six-decade-long career has produced some of the most terrific character studies of a spy. No wonder then that his hand guides a distinct sub-genre of spy films: gritty, real, with painfully high-stakes – a far cry from the suave glamour of the 007 films. Our Kind of Traitor was adapted from Le Carré’s 2010 novel, revolving around a fateful trip to Marrakesh that introduces British couple Perry (Ewan Mcgregor) and Gail (Naomie Harris) to a Russian mobster named Dima (Stellan Skarsgard). An act of courage from Perry’s end convinces Dima to mark him as the perfect candidate for a life-upending job: the passing of incriminating evidence to the MI6, in exchange for the safety of him and his family in Britain. When Perry agrees – thinking it’s a simple courier job – he lands himself in a world of espionage and murder.
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Charlize Theron as a deadly MI6 spy who specialises in hand-to-hand combat? Yes, please. The trailer for Atomic Blonde alone show the several different ways in which Lorraine Broughton, the ace of Her Majestry Secret Intelligent Service, can obliterate her enemies – one involving a bright red stiletto. Theron’s action sequences imitate the choreography of a gruelling and demanding dance, a challenge the actress embodies convincingly. Director David Leitch gives Atomic Blonde the same frenzied energy that he filled Bullet Train (2022) with and it’s a blast.
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Undeniably one of the best espionage thrillers to come out of recent Hindi cinema, Raazi was often cited as Alia Bhatt’s best performance before Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) came along. Based on Harinder Sikka’s novel Calling Sehmat and directed by Meghna Gulzar, the film revolves around Sehmat, a woman who must become an undercover RAW agent and marry into a Pakistani family as service to the ‘mulk’. Unlike most patriotic films, Raazi doesn’t villainize the enemy, choosing to show the Pakistani family in a humanistic and achingly familiar light. The film is more emotional than cerebral and this works brilliantly in highlighting Sehmat’s conflicted conscience. We feel for her but we feel just as much for the people she is betraying. Bhatt delivers a terrific performance as the spy beyond borders, a crafty agent one minute and a demure bahu the next.
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Goodachari transcends its average writing through sheer ambition and sleek action. Adivi Sesh plays Gopi, the orphaned child of a deceased RAW agent. Much like his father, Gopi dreams of serving the country through RAW but is framed for poisoning a senior official. On the run and determined to catch the real killer, Gopi gets to execute plenty of well-choreographed action sequences. Goodachari is especially memorable for the role it assigns the leading lady in the film (Shobhita Dhulipala, in her Telugu debut), instead of relegating her to the backseat.
Where: Amazon Prime Video (paid)
It’s 1972. The first Black officer at the Colorado Springs Police Department, itching to make a name for himself, calls up the local division of the Ku Klux Klan and enrols himself as a member. What follows is absolute mayhem. Based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansmen by Ron Stallworth, the film chronicles the journey of Stallworth (John David Washington) infiltrating the KKK. While Stallworth poses as a white man on the phone, another Jewish officer, Flip Zimmerman (the one and only Adam Driver) impersonates him in front of the KKK members. Stylistic and fun, BlacKkKlansmen throws in disarmingly real moments into the mix. Take for instance the scene in which Stallworth stares at the bullet hole-ridden caricature of a Black man that the KKK had been using for target practice. The scene is enough to remind one of the mindless hate that haunted – and continues to haunt – the Black community.