Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Black Doves is an action thriller set in London.
Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is a spy for hire for a secret organization called the Black Doves. She has been spying on her husband, Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of State for Defense, since the day they met in 2014.
Helen is having an affair with Jason Davies (Andrew Koji), a civil servant, who is shot while sitting on a park bench. When her employer, Reed (Sarah Lancashire), informs her that Jason was killed, she becomes upset. And when Helen vows to get revenge on the men who killed her lover, Reed advises against it. She also mentions that she hired Sam (Ben Whishaw), an old friend of Helen’s, to handle the situation.
Meanwhile, Sam, who left London seven years ago, is back. While preparing for the job Reed hired him for, he runs into an old friend. The friend asks Sam where he’s been, and Sam gives him a vague answer. The friend then asks if Michael (Omari Douglas), Sam’s ex-boyfriend, knows that he’s around. Sam tells him not to tell Michael anything.
What follows is a story about personal drama mixed with gun fights and espionage.
Some Thoughts:
Black Doves suffers from a lack of thought given to the story. The acting, direction, and overall look is fine, but how the story unfolds leaves much to be desired. People have top secret conversations in public, a spy watches a politician being tortured on her phone in the middle of a party, and there are major shootouts on city streets that are mysteriously empty. And that only scratches the surface of implausibility.
Wallace is a high-ranking government official who has no idea that his wife, Helen, who he’s been with for ten years, is spying on him, nor does he notice that she disappears for hours on end. Helen’s sketchy past keeps her from regular employment but somehow has never come up in a government background check. How is that possible? Important government officials often have their lives scrutinized for possible issues, so how has her shady past not been discovered?
I also had no idea that there were so many empty parking lots in English cities where hired assassins–trigger men–can meet up with spies and other unsavory sorts to have a chat. And then there are the empty London streets that I can only assume are designated for shootouts or gunning people down.
Sam’s relationship with Michael is another eye rolling experience, and not one that I’m not going to get into to keep any spoilers to a minimum.
All I can say is that it’s a shame that a fine cast was wasted on such an ill-conceived story. I understand that a certain amount of belief has to be suspended to watch an over the top spy thriller, but this is a bit much.
The Final Verdict:
Black Doves has a fine cast of actors doing their best with a movie that stretches reality too far. It has the look and feel of a serious spy thriller, but none of it makes any sense.
