Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996)

Former British secret agent Harry Palmer now runs a Private Investigation company in Russia. He gets a job to locate and recover a consignment of stolen Plutonium, and with the help of ... See full summary »

Director:

Douglas Jackson

Writers:

Len Deighton (characters), Harry Alan Towers

Stars:

Michael Caine, Jason Connery, Yuri Limonty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Caine	...	Harry Palmer
Jason Connery	...	Nikolai Petrov
Yuri Limonty	...	Circus Clown
Tanya Jackson	...	Tatiana
Michael Scherer	...	Mafiosa
Michelle Burke	...	Brandy (as Michelle Rene Thomas)
Gabriel Vorobyov	...	Driver
Michael Sarrazin	...	Craig
Lev Prygunov	...	Colonel Gradsky (as Lev Prygonuv)
Olga Anokhina	...	Greta
Yuri Petrov	...	General Kornikov (as Yuro Petrov)
Anatoli Davydov	...	Yuri (as Anatoly Davidov)
Serge Houde	...	Dr. Vestry
Ingolf Gorges	...	Club Manager
Evgeniy Zharikov	...	Feodor (as Yevgeni Ilycy Zharikov)

Storyline

Former British secret agent Harry Palmer now runs a Private Investigation company in Russia. He gets a job to locate and recover a consignment of stolen Plutonium, and with the help of colleague Nikolai Petrov he sets off to St. Petersburg to try and find it. Along the way he must deal with the violent Russian Mafia, and also find Nikolai's girlfriend Tatiana who has been kidnapped.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | spy | place name in title | time in title | city name in title | 

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Taglines:

A Veteran Spy. The Crime of the Century. A World on the Brink of Disaster!

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Genres:

Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK Russia Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

1996 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Il nostro agente Palmer

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lenfilm Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shot back-to back with Bullet to Beijing

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Connections

Follows Bullet to Beijing (1995)

User Reviews

Average spy-stuff

I know there was a split between people who were pro or con, to the revival of Harry Palmer in Bullet to Beijing. Personally, I was pro, and I thought BTB was an excellent film. This one picks up where BTB left off, and all in all, it's a pretty routine affair.

It's completely lacking in suspense or tension for one thing. Much of the dialogue was questionable, and the storyline was basically a re-hash of the former (plutonium replaces the allorax). There is the odd funny moment, but nothing much, although the plot does stay together, and is much easier to follow than Bullet.

Thank goodness for Michael Caine. Quite honestly, if it weren't for him, I could have seen the rating dropping to below a 4. The guys in his business also do quite well, although it would have been nice to see more of them (Lev Prygunov in particular, he was good as Colonel Gradsky). Also, Olga Anokhina did well as Greta, and I could see a character in there that could have been developed a lot further. Pity that Craig's character was developed about as far as possible in Bullet, as it made him seem a lot less interesting here.

Jason Connery is a questionable point. He was undeniably wooden in both films, but I thought it actually suited his character in Bullet. A solemn character who becomes less wooden as we learn more about him. Here though, he was back to wooden, and seems to have taken steps back. Him and Tanya Jackson were made for each other in this film; she wasn't much better.

Although the double-crosser was predictable, the actor/actress who played the character was very good (I can't say the name, or it'll give it away). The character seemed very nice and friendly, then turned completely to stone, and it was even surprising how ruthless that character became. Top marks there.

All in all, an average spy-thriller, nothing much more. If you were against Bullet, then certainly avoid this at all costs. If you liked Bullet, then by all means give this a go, but don't expect it to be anywhere near as good.

5/10 - The comments about the circus were pretty amusing though.