Misguided attempt by the BBC to turn life at the British Embassy in Washington into something resembling "Bourne Ultimatum". In the hands of the brilliant Paul Greengrass this might have worked, but what we end up with here is a big budget, over heated, over stylized, and frankly ludicrous, vision of the British Ambassador as James Bond. With every character a suspect, and a subplot, the whole venture becomes confused and laughable. Jason Isaacs, and Sharon Gless are great, but most of the performances suffer from the jerky camera work and frenzied editing. They aren't allowed screen time to breathe, and stick in the viewers mind. It's as if the directors are saying "Never mind them. This is my show. Look at what I can do!" Jiggle, jerk, cut.
Review of The State Within
