[MacBlayne]

FIREFOX

Clint Eastwood’s Firefox is a generic spy techno-thriller that lumps the political exposition of Robert Ludlum with the techno fetishism of Tom Clancy (admittedly, Clancy had yet to debut as a novelist). What it lacks is the flair of Ian Fleming, or the heart of John LeCarre.

Maybe I was high on cleaning fluids (I just finished my period of isolation, and sterilized my flat), but I was so engrossed in the film that I forgot about my glass of ale. Firefox is the type of film we used to take for granted – a genre exercise directed with solid craftsmanship.

Watching Clint hide out in a Moscow Metro train commanded my attention. That’s Clint on a real train, doing laps around real metro stations, all lit up with actual lighting. Even when Clint skulks to a bathroom, you know the filmmakers searched up and down the city (Vienna) to find a location that matched the requirements of shooting, as well the tone.

Also, being a film from that era, it takes time to breathe. Granted, the exposition scenes ramble on far too long (I get it – Russia built a superjet!), but Eastwood includes little character moments that give him and his cast something to sink their teeth into.

The film is complimented by some gorgeous anamorphic photography, and Maurice Jarre’s score sounds a little Superman-ish, but the visual effects by John Dykstra are a letdown. The filmmakers are trying to replicate the dogfights from Star Wars, but where Star Wars’s battles take place against the black void of space, Firefox throws its action against cloudy skies, snowy mountains, or sparkling daytime oceans. The black matte lines become way too obvious. There are some cool bits though, such as the experimental jets’ supersonic waves tearing the ocean or rapidly evaporating the snow into mist.

Firefox is film with not much worth talking about, but shows how much we have lost. I saw this many years ago and was bored senseless. Now, I found it to be an enjoyable afternoon timewaster. Definitely worth a gander whenever it pops up on ITV.