I want you to imagine Men in Black, but more British – so, less guns, more tea and more weirdness. Although the latter one is, in all fairness, probably not the fault of the British. (Then again, they drive on the wrong side of the road, so what can you expect, really?) And with this mental image, I bid you welcome into the world of Arthur Wallace! And don’t mind Kurt Russell, he’s also not the fault of the British, more likely the aftermath of our protagonist watching a lot of 80’s action movies. (Not too much, though, mind you – there’s no such thing as too much 80’s action movies, especially not of the Carpenter/Russell variant.)
Arthur is a British detective who happens to stumble into a war for the future of our reality, and he’s pretty much out of his comfort zone (and his wits) all the time. Which makes for a few funny scenes, most apparently when he raises the most important question of all times:
What would Kurt Russell do?
Those are the moments when Arthur tells himself to just sod it, and goes with his guts. Of course, the Kurt Russell that is channeled here is the Hollywood version of an action hero, and Arthur simply is NO HERO – so don’t expect Hollywood advice to achieve a good result everytime. (Or barely any time.)
But the humor does exist for a good reason – it’s there to counterbalance the more dramatic portions of the plot. This story is, at once, funny and dark. Is grimfunny a genre? It should be.
The plot is exciting, rather fast paced and blessed with a dark humour (and some pop culture references about 80’s action movies, just in case you haven’t realized that yet). I think it’s a good start to a series that makes me, at least, craving for more.
So, 4 out of 5 Snake Plissken Memory Eye Patches in my books. And to answer the eternal question of what Kurt Russell would do? Probably read this book and enjoy a few good hours. Maybe he even would subscribe to my blog for more reviews like this?
Crossing the Pond Reviews 