The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie Review

This 'Diplomat' is not exactly a mild-mannered cultural attaché.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 31, 2010

“World premiere” was a catchphrase for filmed-for-television fare back in the late 1960’s, and it actually became something of a marketing boon at the time. Audiences weren’t yet the jaded masses they would become two decades or so later, tuning in nightly to Entertainment Tonight or its siblings to get their daily fill of gossip and boxoffice receipts. It sounded somehow glamorous to be able to watch a “world premiere” at home on Saturday nights, and these typically Universal backlot “films” (which were in fact released theatrically in Europe and other markets after being broadcast—typically on NBC—in the United States) often did very well in the ratings. ABC sat up and took notice a year or two later and crafted a whole series based on the telefilm idea, the well received Movie of the Week, 90 minute offerings that managed to actually provide a bona fide classic (in relativistic television terms) or two (Brian’s Song, etc.). As audiences grew more sophisticated, and television budgets grew, we were suddenly in the era of “miniseries,” sometimes epic productions that went on for days and days and often (as in the case of Roots) became cultural phenomena the likes of which had never before been seen on the small screen. In the irony department, somewhere along the line “miniseries” became a catchall phrase for shorter form outings which in days of yore probably would have fallen under the “world premiere” soubriquet. Such is the case for the two-part Australian miniseries False Witness, which has been rechristened The Diplomat for stateside broadcast and this home video release. At around three hours, it’s long enough to explore some plot nooks and crannies as it sets up a convoluted world of counter-terrorism, drug running and rogue nuclear weapons. At “only” three hours, there are certain shortcuts the telefilm takes, including some silly attempts at humanizing its characters with patented stereotypical tearjerker backstories, and at least some glaring improbabilities in plotting. With a tone (if not a storyline) that is highly redolent of the British miniseries (rightfully called at six episodes) State of Play (recently remade into a much less exciting theatrical film), The Diplomat has its share of small screen pleasures, though it never really rises to the spy thiller heights for which it’s aiming.

Mr. and Mrs. Porter don't seem to be that excited about being in protective custody.

Ian Porter (Dougray Scott) is a British diplomat assigned to Tajikistan who is taken into custody at Heathrow when it’s discovered his luggage is full of illicit heroin. Porter makes a rather ineffective argument that he knows not what is going on. In the airport we see another individual making furtive glances Porter’s way as the diplomat is led off by constables. That man turns out to be an MI6 operative named Charles Van Koors (Richard Roxburgh) who it quickly becomes apparent is employing Porter for some kind of counter-intelligence operation, the details of which perhaps even Porter himself isn’t fully aware. The Chief Inspector handling the inquiry into Porter’s supposed attempt to smuggle drugs is a tough cookie named Julie Hales (Rachael Blake), who corners Porter and his ex-wife Pippa (Claire Forlani, Scott’s real life spouse) into an unwinnable situation where they’re both forced to accept a witness protection scheme which transports them, despite their divorce, to Australia.

In fact it’s this marital subplot, which is played for every soap opera cliché it’s good for, which interrupts and inhibits The Diplomat’s otherwise involving, if ultimately insubstantial, charms. We have two former spouses haunted by a tragedy (three guesses what it might be, and the first two don’t count), now thrust together in an unlikely circumstance which tests their post-marital mettle. Add in a completely unlikable putative “hero” and a murkily motivated heroine, who one moment is begging her husband for a reconciliation and the next is disclosing his supposed secrets to Hales, and the upshot is a focal couple that at the very least can be rather hard to root for. The first section also comes to a screeching halt a couple of times with just odd dialogue interchanges, such as when one of the two hunky Australian police officers guarding Porter and his wife more or less accuses the other policeman of being gay. This strange interchange comes out of nowhere and is never followed up on, nor becomes any sort of plot point at all, so it just kind of hangs there in a “wish they hadn’t asked or told” sort of way.

The marital strife frankly takes up too much time in Part One of this miniseries, and with the shocking conclusion of that section, Porter is a man alone, a spook not quite sure of who is out to get him and who is out to help him. The second part of The Diplomat is a much more effective piece of writing, despite some awfully cliché ridden moments (the section where Porter tells the child of a brothel professional—don’t ask—that she needs to believe in God again is so obviously a thinly veiled comment on Porter’s own spiritual odyssey that it’s cringe worthy). But with Porter fending for himself and several strands of nefarious behavior swirling around his head, Part Two of The Diplomat finally attains a little dramatic momentum, as the nuclear briefcase angle finally becomes the “real” story of the thriller. If anyone with half a brain can see the denouement coming from a mile off, getting there does entail a good deal of suspense and some wonderful location shooting in and around Sydney.

In fact this travelogue aspect to The Diplomat is one of its chief, albeit tangential, pleasures. With the story whisking us from London’s spy culture to the Russian mobs of Tajikistan to the protective custody segments in Sydney, The Diplomat is awfully easy on the eyes, even when it’s not making particularly much sense. Director Peter Andrikidis and his second unit do some spectacular work here, getting a lot of very interesting footage of all three locales, and making them intriguing elements of the story. If only the main spy scenario had been more gripping, The Diplomat may well have risen to State of Play status, certainly the highest accolade I could pay a recent miniseries. As it stands, this three hour tour through subterfuge and illicit weapons of mass destruction trading is best when it focuses on the spies and their spying and not their messy private lives.

The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Diplomat is certainly one of the nicer looking telefilms I've seen recently, and this VC-1 encoded Blu-ray ups the ante with a nice, full 1080p presentation in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. In fact, about the only negative comment to be made about this overall quite stellar presentation is that old bugaboo of aliasing, which just barely peeks it shimmeringly ugly head on some of the skyscrapers, specifically in downtown Sydney (strangely the London highrises aren't so drastically affected). Otherwise, this is a really nicely sharp looking Blu-ray, with excellent color saturation and appealing detail, especially in both close-ups of the humans and the more expansive shots of the really gorgeous locales featured in abundance. Several of the shots are filtered and post-processed, but those, too, look nicely sharp, though several are desaturated (specifically some of the flashback material).

The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Diplomat offers an at times extremely robust lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundmix that doesn't skimp on some thundering low end, especially in some of the chase and fight scenes, not to mention the literally explosive denouement. Dialogue is nicely crisp and clean, though never very directional, and surrounds tend to be utilized mostly for the action sequences and some of the source music cues, which spill into the soundfield quite appealingly. There are some really nice sound effects throughout The Diplomat, everything from hushed breathing to the slam bang attention getters of rapid fire bullets zinging to and fro between the surround channels, and the mix here is very detailed, with nice attention paid to various volume levels and some equally nice differentiation between quieter, more spacious moments, and some claustrophobic aural environments (such as the club of the main Russian bad guy).

The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included, other than the bonus DVD of the miniseries.

The Diplomat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Diplomat is better than a lot of longish-form television arriving from across the pond, but it never quite attains the giddy, paranoiac heights of State of Play. Part Two is head and shoulders above Part One, though both sections have their share of plot holes and some regrettably cliché-ridden writing. This Blu-ray does offer a really stunning picture and bombastic sound mix, as well as some exotic locales to keep you occupied when those plot holes and clichés get to be too much. All in all, this would certainly make for a fine, mindless evening's rental.