Given the reputation of Iain M Banks as a writer of unorthodox sci - fi and contraversial novels, I am surprised that only 2 of his works have ever been adapted for screen - The Crow Road (which I never liked either as a book or series) and Complicity, his only film outing.
Complicity was a violent, dark thriller, that furiously critiqued the excesses of Thatcherism. When freewheeling, amoral, drug addicted journalist Cameron Colle is drawn into a complex web of murder and deception as he probes the (supposedly) interlinked murders of several ruthless, shadowy Establishment types; the core of the case is too close for his own comfort; or the comfort of his condescending smug yuppy mates (who have the irritating habit of calling St Andrews - 'St Andy's'!?).
The film is decent enough but I think it lacks the novel's darkness, political comment and savage bite; the cast are interesting, and the acting's fine, and Jonny Lee Miller's OK as a lead, but it felt more a like a TV movie than a feature. It's worth seeing, but probably no more than once.
As for another Banks novel, Espedair Street, meanwhile,...could someone, somewhere, please consider this for movie or a mini series?
PS. Complicity the novel concludes on Cowgate Edinburgh, not the namesake in Kirkintilloch!
Complicity was a violent, dark thriller, that furiously critiqued the excesses of Thatcherism. When freewheeling, amoral, drug addicted journalist Cameron Colle is drawn into a complex web of murder and deception as he probes the (supposedly) interlinked murders of several ruthless, shadowy Establishment types; the core of the case is too close for his own comfort; or the comfort of his condescending smug yuppy mates (who have the irritating habit of calling St Andrews - 'St Andy's'!?).
The film is decent enough but I think it lacks the novel's darkness, political comment and savage bite; the cast are interesting, and the acting's fine, and Jonny Lee Miller's OK as a lead, but it felt more a like a TV movie than a feature. It's worth seeing, but probably no more than once.
As for another Banks novel, Espedair Street, meanwhile,...could someone, somewhere, please consider this for movie or a mini series?
PS. Complicity the novel concludes on Cowgate Edinburgh, not the namesake in Kirkintilloch!