Review By Jon Donnis
We are back once again, and this time we have an action/rom-com/spy/thriller for you. The Spy Who Never Dies is directed by Corey Pearson and stars Paul O'Brien in the lead role as Brad an international spy who falls in love with a veterinarian, while the world around him is falling apart..
Clearly this film is a bit of a spoof on James Bond, and from pretty much the first moment, you will realise that it does not take itself at all too seriously.
The film starts with Brad meeting with his boss, he is sick of the spy life, he is starting to feel like he is no more than just a run of the mill assassin, so he wants out, he wants to lead a normal life, with no guns, no bad guys, no saving the world.
He is convinced to take a break instead of just quitting, but before you know it, he is called to assassinate a bad guy who happens to love dogs. Upon doing the deed, he tries to walk away but sees a dog that needs help, so he grabs the dog and takes it to a vet. While at the vet he meets a woman he instantly falls in love with, despite the dog poop on her face. Veronica (played by Georgia Walters) seems like a normal girl, everything Brad is looking for, he drops the dog off, and agrees to return later to pick it up. When he does, he takes some flowers, a bee in the flowers stings her, and she goes into anaphylactic shock, he uses his spy phone to make an EpiPen, but she has a heart defect which means when her heart beats too fast it stops, and she can die. He manages to save her with his spy phone. But as you can see, when you are a world class international spy, these things can happen when you just want to be normal.
Throw in some Russians with stolen hypersonic missiles, a female spy who wants to steal the "big load", (yes there are quite a few "big load" jokes) who also hates Brad, and wants to destroy the world, and you have a pretty standard Spy film storyline, but wrapped in comedy and romance.
Despite being a satire of spy films, the film itself works well within the genre. It has everything you would expect, fight scenes, chases, action sequences, dumb Russians and sexy women.
The film deliberately throws every cliche you can think of at you, and manages to walk the fine line between satire/comedy and just poor parody.
Now the budget isn't huge, so this is firmly in the "low budget" film genre, but they do well here with what they have, and I was pleasantly surprised, as I did scan through the film a few days back and I wasn't too impressed, but when I sat down to watch it, I soon forgot about the low budget and just enjoyed a nice satirical spy film. Paul O'Brien does a good job as the lead, and Georgia Walters is impressive as the love interest.
The Good
A fun film that I enjoyed, nice set pieces, good action, and a decent if cliched story.
The Bad
Despite running only about 90 minutes, I feel like a few scenes could have been cut without affecting the film, and some of the comedy scenes in general tightened up. If this film ran for 80 minutes or even 75 minutes, I think it would play better.
Overall
A simple, comedy spy film with a bit of romance thrown in, what more could you want?
I score The Spy Who Never Dies a solid 8/10
Coming to the UK on Digital Soon in 2022
Currently streaming in Australia on Stan Australia
