That was an excellent one.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I don't know what it is about Graham Green, but he really did get it right, repeatedly. This, no exception, and the producers, actors and all bring his work to life.I recently watched this movie again, after fifteen years, and indeed after 45 years or so from living in Viet Nam, in both Saigon and Vung Tau as a boy. I'm not so old as to know the Saigon of 1954. I did not arrive until just after the Tet offensive in 1968.The set scenes, most, presumably shot in Hanoi, are very surprisingly accurate. I only recognised the centre square in Saigon. The only difference from when I was there was the number of cheap Honda motor bikes on the streets. Which of course would not have been there in 1952-4.My father worked in foreign aid, was debriefed every two weeks or so, and kept tabs on all his employees just in case one of their relatives went VC and they, that would be the employees, could be used as blackmail. The CIA were very, very prevalent around my fathers circles and yes, the underlying premise of American intervention and destabalisation is absolutely spot on; me, having been mentored as a young lad by a small few Americans.The occasional quip in the film about the sound of an explosion is also eerily accurate. You really did get to know the sound of various devices going off. As kids we counted the helicopters (Hueys) going out and coming back in. Train spotting with a twist. We could tell, at least we told ourselves, whether gun fire was Armalite, M1's, M16's etc, AK's? We kept diaries and even pretended we knew whether it was a Chinese AK knockoff or the real deal.We even used to, being kids, boast about our scars. Most of us snuck out after curfew. The concrete abrasions didn't really count, they were just near misses. The spaulding burns meant that you were in an aircraft, serious cudos. But I digress and I've drifted off point. So. This really is a remarkable movie. Written in its original by Graham Green and expressed in such a way as to have stood the test of time by this wonderful rendition. A must watch, and indeed a must read.

A fine adaptation of the Graham Greene novel I read several years ago, "The Quiet American" gradually and tellingly unfurls its twin stories of early anti-Communist American intervention in Vietnam and a triangular love story between Michael Caine's cynical middle-aged English Times reporter, Brendan Fraser as the young, good-looking quiet- spoken American aid worker and Do Thi Hai Yen as Caine's native mistress.The story is told from Caine's character's viewpoint, he the jaded "Our Man In Vietnam", happily separated from his British wife by his job and whose easy existence sees him require to wire in only a few stories a year while keeping his young and beautiful ex-courtesan Phuong as his obedient and uncomplaining lover only for his world to fall apart the minute Fraser enters the scene. Meanwhile, a renegade general attempts to violently carve out a third force in the country and these two strands come together with telling implications for the three main characters.The stories draw the viewer in completely although the inevitability of the ending is signalled with the murder in the opening minutes triggering a long flashback leading back up to the bloody climax. Caine is very good as the jilted writer gone-to-seed but who has found a reason for living in his can't-believe-his-luck liaison with the beautiful Phuong. Brendan Fraser is surprisingly good as the title character torn between his duty to his country, his love for Phuong and his regard for Caine. Thai Yen as Phuong imparts a calm stillness and indeed stoicism, content it seems to use her looks to her best advantage to find a love that will take her out of the bordello run by her protective older sister and convinces the viewer of her capacity to make two very different men love her to distraction.This well-crafted movie tellingly embodies Greene's identifiable themes of guilt, betrayal and honour, with its central characters all trying to escape their trapped existences but who find themselves moved by great events and petty jealousies. Atmospherically filmed and strongly acted, it is one of the superior adaptations of a Greene novel you could hope to see.

Michael Caine may be one of the most imitable actors around today, but you can always rely on him to deliver a class performance. Here, as a newspaper foreign affairs reporter, he risks losing the love of his life to a flash Yank, and being forced to quit the country he loves due to budget cuts, and you can see his understated pain in every syllable. Who'd have thought Brendan Fraser could act so well too... as the titular character, he befriends Caine while stealing his girl right under his nose, at a time when women in Vietnam were valued about as much as cattle. ALWAYS beware of the Quiet ones...We then get an in-depth look at American international political agendas, as they seek to place the people THEY want in charge across the world... and they're prepared to go to any methods to achieve it. The particular attempt noted in this film was a disaster though, and lead to the Vietnam War. Oops. Though this is a fictitious tale, parts are rooted in reality... I'm sure. When will they learn to keep their noses out?! As for the rest, it's a well shot, thought-provoking drama with undertones of tragedy.... But for who? 6/10

When I was at college I had to read the Graham Greene novel The Quiet American and then write an essay regarding colonialism within the literature. Due to this I despised the book, not because the story or writing weren't good but because I had to do an essay on something that really didn't interest me. Years later I have decided to watch the film version of that novel and I have to say it was much better than I remember. Like I said the book wasn't bad but after watching this film, which I thought was great, I am considering buying the book and re- reading it.The film is kept quite close to the book; which is good news for all of those who have read it. The story follows Thomas Fowler (Caine) who is an English journalist in Vietnam due to the war between the French colonialist and the communists of Vietnam. Since being there he has met a young Vietnamese woman who he can't marry due to still being married to a Catholic woman refusing a divorce. He really believes that he loves this woman despite the fact he knows most of these women are with wealthier older men to get themselves out of the country. Fowler's life begins to change though when he meets Alden Pyle (Fraser), an American medical worker who has been sent in to aid the Vietnamese. Although they become good friends, Pyle falls in love with Fowler's girl and as this is 1950's Vietnam he believes he should be able to declare his love and let her decide. Fowler then has to do all he can to keep his girl from a man with many more prospects than him. All of this is set in the beginning of the Vietnamese war and highlights a possible way to how the Americans became involved, which also ties in with this love triangle.Don't be fooled into thinking this is a love story. It may be at heart a love story but surrounding it around the war makes all the difference. There are plenty of political theories and themes' running through it and the love story is only really one half of the entire plot but the driving force behind it all. Caine and Fraser are brilliant in this film. Their chemistry is spot on and after reading the book these actors are exactly how you would expect them to be, they definitely done their homework. Other members of the cast also portray their roles well but it is the two leads who steal it. Caine seems to breeze through it with ease with it being a simple role for him, so most praise has to go to Fraser who has proved that he isn't just a comic actor and can take serious roles seriously. Both actors play their characters with hidden depth that seeps through as the story goes on, and we can clearly see a change in both their personalities by the end of the film. The setting is also beautiful. The cities of Vietnam look great despite war torn, and the graininess of the cinematography also adds to this. The war scenes are filmed well and they add to the depth of conflict and desperation which is shown throughout. War may be happening but our leads are more worried that love will keep them alive.The film kept me gripped till the end, and the final twenty minutes is intense when we finally understand what is happening. The music adds to this tension and the fast pace of the build up. This final act ironed out a few negatives that I had with the film and cleared them from view. One of these was that the beginning felt a little disjointed and expositional but the final act made me forget all about it. This was a film that I am surprised to have liked and I recommend it to those of you out their interested in this kind of plot line. Actually I recommend it to anyone who likes Michael Caine, and that must be everybody. Also don't be put off by the casting of Brendan Fraser, he is actually really good.4 / 5For more reviews: www.tolli-movieworld.blogspot.com