[6]

Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser vie for the affection of a beautiful Vietnamese woman against the backdrop of the French-Indochina War. Philip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games) is the second director to bring Graham Greene’s novel to the screen (after Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1958 version), and does a good job balancing the intimate character drama against the political intrigue. I like how the movie presents the groundwork for the Vietnam war, but I’m seldom a fan of storytelling that reveals its climax in the opening scenes (unless it’s Sunset Boulevard). Caine was Oscar-nominated for his performance.