My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004)

Director:

Scott Spiegel

Writers (WGA):

Lee Batchler (written by) &
Janet Scott Batchler (written by)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Killer elegance, deadly force, explosive strength... what's in a name?

Plot:

The story of how Modesty got her name. |

Plot Keywords:

Secret Agent | Based On Comic Book | Casino | Based On Comic | Based On Comic Strip

Cast

Alexandra Staden	...	Modesty Blaise
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Miklos
Raymond Cruz	...	Raphael Garcia
Fred Pearson	...	Professor Lob
Valentin Teodosiu	...	Henri Louche
Eugenia Yuan	...	Irina
Ion Haiduc	...	High Roller
Bogdan Dumitrescu	...	Boutellis
Marcello Cobzarju	...	Charopos
Dragos Bucur	...	Janos
Dan Astileanu	...	Squad Leader
Damian Oancea	...	Sympathetic Man
Mihai Bisericanu	...	Stassi
Stephen Apostolina	...	Additional voice (voice)
Steve Bulen	...	Additional voice (voice)

Also Known As:

My Name Is Modesty (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

USA:78 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Iceland:16 | Denmark:15 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

There is one major discrepancy between this film and the way Modesty's background is described in the novels and comic strips. According to the flashbacks shown in this movie, Lob, the old man who tutored Modesty, was not only a scholarly professor who knew seven languages and had a great general knowledge, but was also a martial arts master who taught Modesty advanced unarmed combat (despite the fact that Modesty, as a child, is also shown saving Lob from some thieving boys). In the novels and comic strips Lob was the intellectual tutor, but he was totally helpless and needed Modesty to defend him. Modesty learned unarmed combat at a later time in her life, picking it up various places including from masters in the Far East.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#33.12)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Jared Hazak

Unexpectedly good

Unfortunately many consumers who write reviews for IMDb equate low budget with not good. Whatever else this movie might need, more budget really isn't part of it. Big sets and lots of special effects would have turned it into another Lara Croft movie. What we have here is a step or two better than that.

The nearly unknown Alexandra Staden is captivating as the enigmatic Modesty, and this is crucial for this movie to work. Her wise little smiles and knowing looks are formidable, and you find yourself wishing that the camera won't leaver her face. It makes it workable that the bad guy Nikolai, played by also little known (in the U.S. at least) Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau might take an unusually cerebral interest in her, something Modesty can exploit. She is able to divert his raping her with just a shove and spitting out "stop wasting my time!" then storming off between his heavily armed yet suddenly diffident henchmen. Making a scene like that plausible doesn't happen by accident.

Probably the biggest problem I have with the rail-thin Staden playing Modesty is it just isn't very believable for her to go hand to hand with an athletic and muscled looking guy like Coaster-Waldau and beat him. She just ain't a Peta Wilson or a pumped-up Hilary Swank type actress who can throw a convincing punch. Coaster-Waldau letting himself be overpowered by Staden looks like he's just roughhousing with his little sister.

Since this is not really an action film, this isn't a big flaw. I just hope they do better on that if and when they make sequels.