1982 film by Richard Brooks
Wrong Is Right, released in the UK as The Man with the Deadly Lens, is a 1982 American satirical political comedy thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Richard Brooks and starring Sean Connery as TV news reporter Patrick Hale. The film, based on Charles McCarry's novel The Better Angels, is about the theft of two suitcase nukes.[1][4]
Plot
In the near future, violence has become something of a national sport and television news has fallen to tabloid depths. Patrick Hale, a globe-trotting reporter with access to a staggering array of world leaders, has ventured to the Arab country of Hegreb to interview his old acquaintance, King Ibn Awad.
Awad has learned that the President of the United States may have issued orders for his removal; as a result, Awad is apparently making arrangements to deliver two suitcase nukes to a terrorist, with the intention of detonating them in Israel and the United States, unless the President resigns.
In the intricate plot that unfolds, nothing is quite the way it seems, and Hale finds himself caught between political leaders, revolutionaries, CIA agents and other figures, trying to get to the bottom of it all.
In the final twist, the government, with Hale in tow, locates two atomic bombs supposedly planted by terrorist "Rafeeq" atop the World Trade Center. The US uses this as pretext for invading the Middle East and taking possession of oilfields. Hale correctly intuits that the government had planted the bombs in order to rally US support for the invasion, but gladly covers the story the way the government wants in exchange for front-line access to film the action.
Critical reception
The film received negative reviews from critics who cited its "unfocused script" that tries "to satirize so many targets", as well as its confusing visuals.[5] Vincent Canby of The New York Times said the screenplay was scattershot and Connery's performance is "the first uncertain [one] of his otherwise exemplary career".[1] Based on 11 reviews on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, Wrong Is Right has an approval score of 27%.[6]
Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote, "Wrong Is Right is possibly the noisiest film ever made, and the most incessantly whirling one. Its only distinction is that, besides being basically rotten, it is also rotten on the surface."[7]
Donald Guarisco of AllMovie said, "If viewed through a cult-movie mindset, it's easy to see why Wrong Is Right is appealing to that group of viewers. The script has a scathing, darkly funny take on international politics that one wouldn't expect from a well-funded Hollywood project of the early 1980's and also mixes up offbeat humor and message-oriented drama in a way that keeps the film from affecting a comfortable Hollywood style."[8]
