Jack Strong

In the last decade, Polish cinema has repeatedly shown me that the country is brimming with stories that deserve the big screen. Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many times they’ve impressed me. Jack Strong is yet another standout, proving that Poland knows how to deliver compelling narratives. Spy films can be tricky, often bogged down by complex plots, but this one ties everything together nicely. It’s a bit of a shame that the film really picks up steam only in the final act. If there had been a truly jaw-dropping moment, like Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, I might be tempted to rank it among the best spy films I’ve ever seen. Even so, Jack Strong comes incredibly close, which is still a remarkable achievement for a Polish film. (2021.11.24)

I find it hard to evaluate this film. On the one hand, I was completely satisfied, the atmosphere of Poland in the 70s and 80s was perfect. I instantly recognized General Jaruzelský and Brezhnev's voice sent chills down my spine (it was exactly as I remembered it). But then there was the character of Colonel Kukliński, and I wasn’t so pleased with the way he was portrayed. I didn’t appreciate the fact that this heroic colonel took part in the planning of Operation Danube in the film. Later, I googled some more facts, and I simply can’t give more than three stars. (2018.10.30)

The Prague Spring as the proverbial last straw after which Polish Col. Kukliński lost all his illusions about the USSR and over the course of several years he smuggles thousands of pages of essential files from technical specification to operation plans to the West. The movie depiction of his fate is primarily a genre movie through and through, secondly it is a great tribute and thirdly it is an attempt at reconstruction of the events of the time, but it is hard to treat it negatively, since the tension throughout the movie could be cut by a knife; typically during a conversation about nothing where they play a game like this: “he knows that that guy knows, but this guy just has suspicions, while the other guy suspects nothing." Too bad that, despite its genre-related and production qualities, this Polish filmmaker didn’t try to avoid genre clichés. This movie contains maybe all the clichés that have ever appeared in a spy movie. Most of them are presented with grace and serve their purpose, but it’s still rather a shame. (2014.07.22)