DVD Movie Rating for: My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

Rating 1 out of 5 stars

Movie Plot of: My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

DVD Production Details of: My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

Miramax

DVD Easter Eggs

None

Cast of the movie: My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

• Alexandra Staden .... Modesty Blaise
• Nikolaj Coster-Waldau .... Miklos
• Raymond Cruz .... Garcia
• Fred Pearson .... Professor Lob
• Valentin Teodosiu .... 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)
• Richard Cansino .... Additional voice (voice)
• Ruby Marlowe .... Additional voice (voice)
• Philip Proctor .... Additional voice (voice)
• Al Rodriguez .... Additional voice (voice)
• Bianca Ana Tudorica .... Modesty

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My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

Reviews of the movie: My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

My Name Is Modesty is a sleek but hardy entertainment based on cartoonist Peter O'Donnell's story about an orphaned girl who survives wars, deserts, and sundry hardships to become the tough manager of a Tangiers casino. Alexandra Staden (Vanity Fair) is the second actress to play Modesty Blaise in a feature film (Monica Vitti took the role in 1966), and her beautiful cool and enigmatic poise are perfect for the mysterious yet likeable heroine. My Name Is Modesty cleverly introduces Modesty's background and wiles in a thriller set during an armed takeover of the casino. Deflecting demands by a terrorist leader (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) while also creatively keeping hostages alive, Modesty agrees to a game of roulette with the strongman. She plays for lives; he plays to hear chapters from her unknown life, reluctantly told. Directed by actor-director Scott Spiegel and presented by Quentin Tarantino (among the DVD's special features is a conversation between the two), the film is a noble, engaging genre piece

For fans of Peter O'Donnell's character Modesty Blaise, screen adaptations have been very frustrating. The Sixties flick sacrificed O'Donnell's vision in favor of the campy cool that was in back then, which entertained fans of Sixties cool while forcing livid Modesty Blaise fans to wonder why the movie's producers bothered to pay good money licensing Blaise if they weren't going to use the Blaise they licensed. A later, barely-noticed small screen adaptation similarly put the beloved name of Blaise to the service of a generic action plot about generic characters.

When the highly regarded moviemaker Quentin Tarantino announced that he was a fan of O'Donnell's books and comics about Blaise and wanted to see the Modesty Blaise property done right on the big screen, that gave fans some hope. But he said that ten years ago, and little has been done since -- until this cheap, direct-to-video Modesty Blaise prequel, which was shot in less than a month solely because Miramax would lose the rights to the property if it hadn't made a movie within a certain time. That's right -- this movie is a hurry-up, zero-budget flick about a character that others couldn't get right on a big budget with plenty of time. And it's a prequel, to boot. A recipe for diaster if there ever was one.

But something went wrong with the recipe, and the movie turned out to be the only one so far that deserves fan approval. While its shoestring budget means low production values that will turn off those who don't care much for the character, the script's fidelity to O'Donnell's vision of Blaise will make fans slap their foreheads and shout, "At last!"

This is mostly due to a faithful script that cleverly manages to work O'Donnell's enjoyable account of Blaise's childhood into a conversation between the teenage Modesty and a sadistic thug who takes her hostage at the casino where she works. Also, care went into casting Modesty. Alexandra Staden is clearly not the athelete Blaise is supposed to be -- for all her slenderness, her arms are flabby -- but she otherwise bears a striking physical resemblance, she carries herself well, and she does a good exotic accent.

For those looking for a high-class flick, though, the low production values will be a sticking point. The movie looks like it was made for ten bucks, and though the script manages to justify the low number of sets, the movie is stagebound enough that justification was required. Plus, the action sequences, though rare (this is more of a suspense movie), are not particularly well-staged or effective. This is definitely direct-to-video fare.

But for Modesty Blaise fans, it is direct-to-video fare that will be a blast, and a relief, to watch. If this much care went into putting the Modesty Blaise that O'Donnell fans know and love into a rinky-dink video just made to preserve the producers' rights to the franchise, then we can have confidence that when they finally manage to make the big-budget one, it will be one the fans will love. (Heck, by that time, Staden may be old enough to play the early-thirties Modesty that movie will require.)