Reviews & Ratings for
Eye of the Needle More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 5:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Index

47 reviews in total

---

29 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
A Surprisingly Good Wartime Thriller, 23 May 1999

Author: Paul Arthur from London, England

This film about a German agent trying to escape from Britain might seem to offer limited scope for interest, but Sutherland's menacing performance and the events on the island turn it into something approaching a study in psychopathy, laden with uncertainty and fear. The vulnerability of Lucy (Kate Nelligan, a sensitive and intelligent but definitely pre-feminist woman helps to give the film an added poignancy. Sutherland's performance is such that we are always fascinated by the damaged and ruthless character he portrays. Those who dislike war films may find themselves surprised by this film.

---

28 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Tight, kinetic suspenser, 1 January 2005
Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness

Donald Sutherland is superb as "The Needle", a Nazi spy pursued by the British government during World War II. Circumstances land him on Storm Island, a small, wind-swept patch of land off the English coast. There he falls in love with the sensual Kate Nelligan, the unhappy, lonely wife of a crippled war vet.

The late Richard Marquand's second feature film is a gripping, suspenseful wartime drama about doomed love. The blazing glow of this film is enhanced by sizzling yet subtle scenes of lovemaking and a stunning Miklos Rosza score.

The island vistas are breathtaking and Alan Hulme's pictures are rich and moody.

---

23 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Thrilling, tightly-wound WW2 love story, 23 March 2000

Author: mzav from New York, NY

Sutherland was never darker or slicker, Kate Nelligan was never more heroic or attractive, and the outcome of World War Two was never so thoroughly in doubt. Suspenseful all the way, this movie convinces us that the Allied-Axis struggle was determined by the violent, romantic interplay among five people on a storm-tossed British isle. See it!

---

20 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
Donald Sutherland at his best in one of the most fascinating spy films ever!, 3 March 2005

Author: ed56 from Israel

Director Richard Marquand and all the crew involved brought us a memorable film that keeps us on the edge of our seat from the beginning to the very last minute. The story follows a Nazi spy named Henry Faber (an extremely vicious Donald Sutherland), also known by his code name "The Needle", who is on to an important information about the Allies invasion plan to Europe during WW2 and might cause a disaster if he gets with that information to Berlin. Kate Nelligan gives a perfect performance as the naive Lucy who gets involved with the dangerous Henry Faber. Adopted from Ken Follet's novel, The film successfully keeps the tension on high level in just about every scene. The film is shot in a remarkably beautiful locations in Europe and really captures the alienated atmosphere during WW2. All in all this is a perfect film that shouldn't be missed by anyone who is looking for a powerful and memorable experience. This one is highly recommended 10/10.

---

18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Gripping stuff, 21 July 2002
Author: unclepete from Liverpool, England

This film really does deserve more merit than it seems to get.

Sutherland is a bit odd, with most of all a bizarre accent that almost seems to change from scene to scene. Whilst this is perhaps expected from an international spy in deep cover, it doesn't seem to sit well.

Nelligan steals the show with a wonderful performance, but the real surprise for me was Cazenove. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see him as the newly qualified, sparkling eyed flyboy, but his portrayal of the embittered, loveless amputee was a joy to watch - clearly a talented man.

The film wraps up a great story with wonderful acting, a great collection of WW2 military hardware and breathtaking scenery. Well worth a watch.

---

13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Somewhat unpromising but effective mixing of WW2 spy fare with an intense romantic thriller works superbly, 22 February 2006
Author: DrLenera from UK

Eye of the Needle is an oddly structured but nonetheless extremely effective film which in many ways is quite old fashioned in tone and feel,with the addition of a little 'modern'sex and violence. For almost the first half,the film is a fairly conventional but quite gripping spy thriller,as a German agent causes havoc in World War 2 England. There are few surprises,but Donald Sutherland is mesmerising to watch {even if his accent wavers} and the plot at least sounds almost plausible. The keen eyed,however,may spot mistakes in the period detail.

Then Sutherland is washed up on a Scottish island inhabited by a crippled man and his frustrated wife,and the film changes into an incredibly tense mixture of romance and thrills. Sutherland and Nelligan's affair may be basically sexual,but there is real chemistry between them and a real sense of desperation,of two lonely people throwing themselves together. The last half hour is real edge-of-the-seat stuff,perhaps almost bordering on psycho-thriller,but it really works.

Throughout the film Sutherland remains the villain and does do some nasty things,but it's a measure of his performance that occasionally we do come close to sympathising with him. Acting-wise though the film really belongs to Nelligan,a tragically underused and beautiful actress who has to go through the motions of loneliness and frustration,than lust,then fear,and eventually heroism,and does so superbly.

Aided tremendously by the last ever score from the legendary film composer Miklos Rozsa,who provides a moving love theme and some especially thrilling music for the last section of the film,Eye of the Needle perhaps shouldn't really work as well at it does,but that's a measure of it's quality.

---

19 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
The war has come down to the two of us., 1 November 2004
Author: Andy (film-critic) from Bookseller of the Blue Ridge

So, at first I had trouble deciding if this film was great or just another war film that would be forgotten about as the years progressed. It was a tough decision that required a day of thought. There were definitely scenes in this film that would embarrass even the most novice movie goer, yet there is something about the story and the humanistic approach to a non-human element that seeps from this film's pores. The scene that stands out the most in my mind is when Sutherland is running to the rain to catch Lucy. You can obviously tell that he is on a sound stage and water is being thrown in his face. His acting and the way that that particular scene was set up was appalling. It made me laugh instead of feel any sort of suspense or fear. It forced credibility for Sutherland's character right out the door. There were several other scenes that just didn't seem to fit in this film that made you question the theatrical release of this film or if it was a straight-to-television production. If you can get through these few lapses in the director's train of thought, then you will be able to see the powerful story that lies within.

When I first saw the box to this film I didn't know what to expect. To my utter enjoyment, Eye of the Needle is one of those gems hiding in a mud puddle. After you wipe it off (look away from the DVD cover), you will begin to see the beauty of this film. As we begin our story, we see Sutherland as a normal person, but as the film advances, our idea and interpretation of his character blows our mind. When most war films simply believe in keeping you in your theater seats by showing graphic images of battle and chaos, this film goes in the completely other direction. This is a story between two people and the small battle that they fight for their beliefs. I mentioned earlier that I felt this was a very humanistic film. The reason for that statement is because we witness the human element to war. Billy is the perfect example of a man who has lost a portion of his life, yet is too depressed to see the happiness in front of him. Normally in war films this comes late story, but in Eye of the Needle it is shown right up front. Next, we hardly ever are given a very human side to the villain in these stories. Normally, they kill without remorse, but again, not in this film. What we witness are two humans caught between a hard place with nobody else to turn to.

While war is being raged overseas with thousands of troopers, it is impressive to see stories like this that revolve around just two people. These two people can have the same effect on the war as a brigade of soldiers. I never saw their reaction to each other coming. I wasn't expecting a message in this film. I brief history lesson about the day to day activities surrounding this dark cloud of our world's history. Also, I wasn't expecting to see such powerful acting from Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Together they created more sparks on screen than most duos today.

What they create is better and more realistic than most Hollywood jargon.

It is impressive to see this in a war film. I cannot stress that enough. This film surprised me and I am normally not a huge war fan. I think the reason that it stood out was because director Richard Marquand develops two amazing characters and places them in a war torn country, only to uproot them again into a place of beauty and nature. We go from one spectrum to the next with Marquand and it works. Ken Follett, who wrote the novel that this film is based, has done a great job of taking a world that is huge and bringing it down to just these two characters. It is not often that you see that in a war film, especially one made in 1981.

Overall, I flip-flopped my decision all around until I finally made a choice. This film was amazing. I can look past the low-budgeted scenes that make this film dated in the 80s, and see the amazing truth behind the characters and story. This is one of the most impressive stories that I have seen come from Hollywood. I could literally watch this film again and probably catch more that I missed the first time. This isn't your average spy film; this is instead a film about humans and the comfort we need in our lives. Also, I must end with this note, if any villain (without saying who) can use his trademark kill six times in forty minutes, you should realize that this film is going to be a great ride.

Grade: **** out of *****

---

8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Pretty and romantic WWII spy thriller, 5 March 2006

Author: Luigi Di Pilla from Riehen, Switzerland

I am satisfied with EYE OF THE NEEDLE. There are many plots and twists without great special effects or action. Anyway, the film shows a spy story set in the second World War and that is well directed. The picture and camera work is not as perfect as in today's big blockbusters but it doesn't shock because it is well compensated with historical details and facts from that war time. It's interesting seeing Donald Sutherland in this role as a lover and villain. He is for me one of the great actors that made many enjoyable thrillers. All in all a watchable movie that has a better class than these disappointing thrillers of nowadays and once again a DVD from the house of MGM that works for an entertaining Saturday evening. My wife and me vote 7/10 that matches exactly the actual vote of 7/10.

---

9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Sutherland proves that having sex is easier than riding a bike!, 28 July 2001
Author: Geofbob from London, England

Eye of the Needle is based on historical fact - the allies deceived the Germans into thinking that the D-Day invasion would take place at Calais rather than Normandy by assembling a dummy military force in Kent (not East Anglia as in the film). However, the intelligence and counter-intelligence manoeuvres that took place in maintaining this deception were rather more complex than in this simplistic movie.

The best part of the film is the culminating love affair on a remote Scottish island between the murderous German spy, Faber (Donald Sutherland), and the sexually frustrated Lucy (Kate Nelligan), which is credible and convincingly portrayed. Sutherland also has a few good scenes in the earlier parts of the movie, though certainly not the opening sequence with his curious accent and ludicrously stiff one-handed cycling! But most of the other characters are cardboard stereotypes, and the dialogue would not have been out of place in a 1930s B picture. (In particular, Ian Bannen as an MI5 sleuth makes the least of some especially ludicrous lines.)

---

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Kate Nelligan steals the show with her beauty, 2 April 2007

Author: swanningaround from Switzerland

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a great WW2 movie with a sub-plot of love between an isolated woman and an enemy spy, played by Donald Sutherland. The real star of the show is the extremely beautiful Kate Nelligan who falls in love with German spy "Die Nadel" or "The Needle". he kills everything that gets in his way. In the earlier part of the film, he discovers that the equipment set up for the invasion of Calais, tanks, landing craft, jeeps etc is all fake, and must convey this to Amiral Canaris in the Abwehr.

The most interesting part of the movie is that although he is totally ruthless, he will not kill Lucy, played by Kate. This is most odd since she is hell bent on killing him with shotguns, axes, revolvers, in fact anything she can get her hands on. Here is a man with the greatest secret of the war, a German patriot, who lets a small woman stop him. He could have killed her and helped the Germans defeat the Yanks in D-Day about 10 times over.

Although the story is completely unbelievable, it is excellently written. The acting displays of the main cast of Casenove, Sutherland and Nelligan is very good, with Nelligan giving a convincing performance. 10/10

---

---

Page 1 of 5:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	External reviews	Parents Guide
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user reviews
Your vote history