This 2008 British TV miniseries is an intricate near-future thriller that's a little bit 24, a little bit 1984, and even a little bit Mad Max. The story gets underway when mathematician Stephen Ezard (Benedict Cumberbatch) returns to London from China to attend the funeral of his estranged brother, and winds up falling for his sister-in-law Yasim (Anamaria Marinca). Shortly thereafter, Stephen is recruited by a company called Inquirendo, whose Total Information Awareness program awaits government sanction from the British home secretary (Eva Birthistle), who wants Parliament to make the carrying of biometric ID cards mandatory. Despite being under observation by security personnel reporting to the Prime Minister's aide Barbara Turney (Geraldine James), the slippery former spy David Russell (Robert Carlyle) manages to kidnap Stephen in an attempt to discover the truth surrounding the mysterious death of a woman whose body was found in the apartment of the mathematician's late brother. Sound complicated? That's only part of the story: governmental misconduct, international conspiracies, and the unexplained disappearance of numerous Middle Eastern refugees also factor into this tangled yarn. Director Iain MacDonald does a fabulous job of narrative plate-spinning, keeping multiple strands in constant motion accompanied by rapid changes in viewpoint as the tale unfolds. Cumberbatch is solid as Stephen, an obsessive-compulsive gradually forced to relinquish his psychological security blankets, while Carlyle—who's always good when he's being bad—excels as the ferret-like rogue agent. Teeming with clever bits of misdirection, The Last Enemy is initially difficult to follow, but viewers will find the effort worthwhile in the end. DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, and outtakes. Recommended. (E. Hulse)
The Last Enemy
WGBH, 2 discs, 285 min., not rated, DVD: $29.95 Volume 24, Issue 2
The Last Enemy
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