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Customer Reviews of A Different Loyalty

A Moderately Successful Romance Set Within A Fairly Unenlightening Tale Of International Espionage
Having never heard of this small picture, I was curious to check out "A Different Loyalty." Based on a true story, and starring Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett--"Loyalty" aims to tell the story of one of the most successful British spies working for the Soviets. Everett plays this agent, who helped to steal nuclear secrets from the Americans among other deeds. Facing exposure, he must turn his back on an idyllic family life and flee to Russia to live out his days. <
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>There are moderate successes within "Loyalty" which wants to be a Cold War thriller, of sorts, but mainly thanks to Everett. His performance is a thoughtful one, and he and Stone make a credible pair. Their courtship and family life are well played and interesting. When he goes missing, however, Stone must start facing the truths about her husband. <
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>There is a tremendous, morally complicated story to be told here--unfortunately, "A Different Loyalty" isn't quite the picture that it should have been. First of all, Everett's espionage is discussed only in superficial terms. We never see him as anything other than a somewhat sympathetic family man--not a major player in international politics. And if Stone has any actual thoughts about his betrayal to England, they are never shown. We are left with Stone's personal betrayal and wanting to bring her family back together--but not once does she question whether her husband might be a villain. What could have been a devastating treatise on love and loyalty devolves into a mundane relationship drama. The implications of Everett's actions never have an actual impact on Stone, and that's the film's ultimate undoing. If Stone doesn't try to comprehend what her husband has done, why should we? And since "Loyalty" doesn't give us much actual information to work with--it falls flat as a story we can care about. <
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>Decent performances, but a lack of insight or fully realized potential, make this a watchable but forgettable endeavor.

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Interesting Premise, Boring Storytelling
`A Different Loyalty' claims that the story is based on the true events, but that does not necessarily mean that what is told in this little-known film is very interesting. Yes, the premise itself is not uninteresting, but sadly the filmmakers didn't know how to make it an entertaining or engrossing film with thrills or emotion. <
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>The film is about an American woman Sally (Sharon Stone) who falls in love with a handsome British newspaper correspondent Leo (Rupert Everett), and marries him in Beirut. The time is set in 1963, in the middle of the Cold War, and after happily living together for four years, Leo suddenly disappears. What happened to him is no mystery if you see a stranger in a bowler hat standing in front of Leo's house, as if giving some signal to him. <
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>Though the previous reviewer has written about the story after that, I refuse to reveal much about it, not because it would spoil your fun of watching the film, but because anyway I don't have much to talk about it. But perhaps you should know that before you come to know the identity of Leo, you have to see several not-so-thrilling sequences about a dead body, a man breaking into Sally's house, another dead body. several mysterious letters, and so on, all of which are shown in the most insipid way. The film, a poorly-directed thriller, presents them in a by-the-number way, making everything quite boring. <
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>Things don't get better after the story goes on to tell us that Leo is found in Russia, to which Sally flies, ignoring the warning from the authorities. As a romance, the film does not work either as there is virtually no chemistry between these actors. I also didn't feel any paranoia-like tension of the contemporary society full of suspicion during the Cold War, and the lack of the credible social background makes the romance between Sally and Leo look more tepid. <
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>Despite its intriguing premise, "A Different Loyalty' fails to interest us because of its pedestrian storytelling.

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Based on History
I found this a fascinating movie. It's based, of course, on the real life events of the Cambridge spies, particularly the most famous of them, Kim Philby. For some reason, they changed all the names of the spies in the movie. I don't know why they changed the names; I thought it would have been more effective if they had not. <
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>Anyway, the film focuses on the life of Philby (a different name in the movie) and the wife he marries in Beirut. Philby famously left MI5 and took up the job of a journalist in Beirut from which position he presumably continued his work for the KGB. Upon discovering that he was about to be outted, he fled for Moscow, leaving his ignorant wife in the lurch. She at first was in denial, then travelled to Moscow and discovered the truth about her husband. In the end she separates from him, even though still being in love. <
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>The movie portrays most Americans as boors of course. Philby is portrayed mostly sympathetically throughout despite his traitourous activities in real life (passing nuclear secrets to the Reds thereby prolonging the Cold War). However, I found the pace of the movie and the depth of character portrayal quite engrossing. Glad to have stumbled across it.