One of the great things about being over 60 is enjoying films of your youth through the wrong end of a telescope... and seeing whether they still hold their focus. Billion Dollar Brain has every trick you would expect from Ken Russell - as pacey and full as the early Bond movies. Sexy Michael Caine in a fur hat takes himself not at all seriously - Finland under the snow could well be a take-off of David Lean's Zhivago. Quaint 30 year old visions of what an all powerful computer looks like will give techno freaks a belly laugh - and there is a marvellous scene where a crazy American warlord runs amuck. (Goodness, we dont have those any more, do we?!?)
Not as good as Funeral in Berlin, and not a patch on The Ipcress file. Harry Palmer's run started with a true classic and it seems to be all downhill from there. I had hoped that after the slightly underwhelming Funeral in Berlin, that this would be a return to the greatness of The Ipcress File. Sadly, it is more of a sub-standard Bond-style romp on a par with For Your Eyes Only or one of the cheesier Brosnan offerings. Watchable, but don't plan your evening around it, and certainly don't watch it if it is going to upset you that the Palmer franchise seems to be losing its way.