The
title is a ridiculously self-important mouthful, and that’s not even
including the possessory affixation of author Robert Ludlum, upon whose
work this two-part spy miniseries is based. Still, despite the
limitations and reputation of small screen genre pieces of this ilk
(Rob Lowe’s Atomic Train, anyone?), Covert One: The Hades Factor marginally acquits itself as a piece of time-whiling entertainment for the Tom Clancy/armchair homeland security set.
, a former secret agent of the titular<br />
clandestine service who now works as a biological-disease specialist<br />
for a Center for Disease Control-type governmental organization. His<br />
fiancée, Sophie Amsden (Sophia Myles), is unaware of his sordid,<br />
cloak-and-dagger past, and John would rather keep it that way, but at a<br />
conference abroad on pandemics (sample banter: “Well, we’re still<br />
searching for WMDs…”) he gets sucked back into the intrigue when a<br />
fellow agent, Rachel Russel (Mira Sorvino), gets nabbed while on a<br />
mission designed to sniff out and secure several vials containing<br />
deadly pathogens. </p>
<p><b>The production design is part budget-level <i>Bourne Identity</i>,<br />
part Lifetime TV special</b>, as the movie opens with three different<br />
members of a picture-perfect suburbia — all of whom served militarily<br />
in Afghanistan, it turns out — being felled by a flesh-eating virus,<br />
then shifts into its exposition-happy spy-chatter shenanigans, complete<br />
with informational scene cards that feed us a constant stream of time<br />
and setting detail. This type of stuff feels like a bit of a reach, a<br />
suspect attempt to root the material in real world menace, but director<br />
Mick Jackson (<i>The Bodyguard</i>, the Emmy-winning <i>Tuesdays with Morrie</i>)<br />
thankfully isn’t above purely cathartic cat-and-mouse games, and it’s<br />
not long before such decidedly base thrills kick in and pull one along.<br />
<b>It certainly doesn’t hurt that the 160-minute film, which broadcast<br />
earlier this year on CBS, has Dorff’s full attention — an underrated<br />
actor but one given to playing up or down to the nature of the material<br />
— and is additionally buoyed by an excellent ensemble cast</b>, including<br />
Danny Huston (above right), Colm Meaney, Blair Underwood, Conrad Dunn, Jeffrey DeMunn<br />
and Anjelica Huston as the president of the United States. </p>
<p><i>Covert One: The Hades Factor</i> comes packaged in a regular<br />
Amray case, and is presented only in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, with<br />
an English 5.0 Dolby digital sound track and optional English<br />
subtitles. There are unfortunately no supplemental extras, however,<br />
which is certainly no way to launch a secret agent/spy franchise, big<br />
screen or small. <b>C+ (Movie) D (Disc)</b></p>
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