Talk:The Fourth Protocol (film)

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One thing missing from the article is any information about the film itself, beyond the cast list, summary, and dates etc. Did the critics like it? Was it successful at the box office? Was it a British film or an American film? Is it currently available on video? I ask because it seems to have dropped off the radar entirely (even e.g. Defence of the Realm pops up now and again on blogs etc, whereas The Fourth Protocol is a kind of black hole). -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 20:11, 24 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I believe he made his acting debut in this film? Andrew07 (talk) 12:37, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

IMDB credits Damon Albarn, lead singer of blur, for only two film roles as an actor. It might be possible that he was an uncredited actor or extra but you'd need to have a reliable source to back it up. His wikipedia article doesn't mention this film but that doesn't disprove anything either, so again, if anyone finds a source ... --- 109.78.141.51 (talk) 01:22, 29 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"The character of the assembler in the book is a man although the surname is the same. He is killed by getting his neck broken rather than being shot." < I haven't read the book – does this mean that Petrofsky has sex with the assembler as well? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Messlo (talk • contribs) 19:24, 24 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No. In the book the Assembler is indeed a man, and apart from some witty banter about how a nuke works, there is no interaction between them at all really. There is a comment that Petrofsky holds nuclear science in some awe, and that translates to the Assembler himself as well. In the book he is killed when they take a toilet break by the side of the road (The assembler is under the impression he is being driven back to the airport to leave), and the body is covered with branches and left in a layby.

The film has quite a bit more sexual tension than the book - the American officers wife, the swingers party, the gay encounter at the airport, and the female assembler - none of this is present in the book. Chaheel Riens (talk) 19:32, 24 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't understand that scene with the gay encounter at the airport. [spoiler] That cruising gay gets murdered by Petrofskiy before he even gets to initiate his blowjob, and it doesn't seem to be politically motivated, as the slew of other killings in the film. In the grand scene of things, it also seems like an unnecessary risk for a top KGB spy of attracting unwanted attention. There are some signs of Petrofskiy showing sexual frustration, so I don 't know if it is some slightly clumsy and speculative way of showing him as a perverted sexual sadist, in combination with either latent homosexuality or internalized homophobia. [/spoiler] 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 13:18, 5 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, looking it up, it seems as if the killing was politically motivated after all, and I wasn't paying attention. "In his first theatrical role following his successful run on TV’s Remington Steele, Brosnan’s Valeri Petrofsky is sly and enigmatic. He does a lot of emoting with just his eyes, whether it’s tempering the advances of a lonely military wife or seducing a gay man he must kill after witnessing an exchange. " [1] 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 13:21, 5 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify somewhat - the gay man (called "Cruiser" in the credits) walks into some hotel toilets while Petrofsky and a courier are exchanging one of the items (it's a radio, ISTR). To call the killing "political" is completely inaccurate - he's just eliminating a witness, something he couldn't do there and then in the toilet because A) the witness had already left the toilets and was in the hotel lobby, and B) a dead body on the floor of the toilets is even more clumsy and obvious than a death in a Ford Granada in a carpark.

Insinuating that Petrofsky is therefore a sexual pervert and/or has latent homosexual tendencies is original research of the highest order, and there's nothing to suggest this at all. In fact, Petrofsky's behaviour towards McWhirter's wife shows restraint rather than perversion.

Thinking about it, there is only one political death in the film, and that's Petrofsky himself who is killed to keep the balance of power - all other deaths are purely to tie up loose ends and prevent either witnesses or leaks - Philby, Pavlov, Cruiser & Vassilievna - or an accident - the seaman at the docks. Chaheel Riens (talk) 14:33, 5 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]