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

User Rating:

4.5/10   

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:

All scenes are shot in chronological order.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Conversation with Quentin Tarantino & Scott Spiegel (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Jared Hazak

Seriously Underrated - Didn't You Read the Books?

Although I bought the DVD when it first came out, and have watched it several times, I never wrote a review.

I loved it when I first saw it and I love it still.

Sadly, it seems it never made enough money to motivate anyone to do a follow-up. I have to assume QT still controls the rights, but after Kill Bill if he does a film that is as true to the comics and books as My Name is Modesty, with another tough female lead, anyone not familiar with the character will see this as a let-down.

Peter O'Donnell wrote his stories to focus more on psychological suspense rather than action thrillers.

The tug of wills between Modesty and Miklos is very true to the source material and is tense, suspenseful and fascinating to anyone who doesn't have to have gore and explosions. Alexandra did a great job in playing how O'Donnell's character would have taken control of the situation.

I find this particularly ahead of the curve following the sorely needed reboots of Batman and James Bond. After 2 dismal earlier efforts, although not nearly as well known to the public, this is really a reboot of the Modesty character, and it is really sad that probably no more films about her will be made.