Turks & Caicos

Writer-director David Hare picks up the story of MI5 intelligence analyst Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy), which began with the BBC telefilm Page Eight (VL-1/12), with Worricker living in exile in Turks and Caicos, a British protectorate and tax haven in the Caribbean, following the fallout from his whistle-blowing revelations. When he's recognized by CIA agent Curtis Pelissier (Christopher Walken), who's on a mission to get money skimmed from the government by American mobsters, Worricker is blackmailed into helping out with the case. In return, the CIA won't rat him out to the British government—or at least so they promise. The tropical setting coupled with the intersection of international crime and political secrets makes this an engaging watch, and there's much going on here between the Brits, the Yanks, and the local population, whom Worricker engages with (and every other Western tourist ignores), as well as plenty of British skullduggery back home that is tangled up in the proceedings. Turks & Caicos boasts a stellar cast, from the unassuming warmth and dry wit of Nighy—who makes it look effortless as Worricker sizes up the situation and plots his moves as everyone else negotiates—to Walken, Winona Ryder (as a mob accountant with a grudge), Helena Bonham Carter (as an ex-spy and Worricker's former lover), and Ralph Fiennes (as the Prime Minister, who becomes more prominent in Salting the Battlefield, the final installment of the Worricker trilogy—also now available). Extras include a “making-of” featurette. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)