Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Thomas Drufke As most movies based on television series goes, MI-5 is probably better fitted for viewers of the series. I've never seen an episode of MI-5, but I've seen my fair share of spy-action-thrillers, and this one is about as middle of the road as you can get. There isn't anything special about this movie, but there's also nothing blatantly wrong with it either.Set a few years after the end of the series' run, MI-5 picks up as Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) is still the head of section D at MI-5. But when he realizes that someone inside of his team has aided a wanted international terrorist in his escape and he himself is suspected, he decides to take matters into his own hands and recruits one of his former guys, Kit Harrington into proving his innocence. Again, there's nothing really here that's all that original, but if you're looking for a fun little action film to take your mind away from normal life, MI-5 might be one for you.Harrington his very likable, as he always has been. His character here is pretty much Jon Snow in the modern world, but his talent is undeniable. This is especially clear when he's alongside costar, Peter Firth playing Harry, because that's not a particularly likable character. In fact, for most of the film I found myself rooting against him. Which brings up my major issue with the film, the endless plot twists and double crosses. There comes a point in the film when there's been so many different plot changes and reveals that the story becomes irrelevant. The film becomes to reliant on keeping you guessing the next turn, that it forgets to tell its own story.It's nice to see Kit Harrington get a starring role, and even see David Harewood in a feature film, but there's not a whole lot separating this film from anything else we have seen. Perhaps a bigger budget, more rounded villain, and a less convoluted script would make for a better viewing experience.6.2/10

Argemaluco In 2002, I became a fan of the TV series Spooks (known as MI-5 outside the UK), whose creators were obviously inspired by the success of 24 in order to make their own European version, portraying the adventures and personal drama of the agents of the MI-5 agency. Sure, as it is usual in English TV, there wasn't too much money to shoot big action sequences or special effects, so the emphasis of the programme always lied on the traditional espionage and the political intrigue. But what distinguished it were the realism of the stories and their unpredictable cruelty, which could anytime kill (or eliminate through other mediums) any characters, from "guests" of one episode to the stars of the series. In other words, anything could happen, and nobody had a guaranteed survival. And the film Spooks: The Greater Good retook that strategy in order to graduate into cinema after 10 seasons on the small screen. I have to say that I have only seen the first four seasons, and then the ninth (because Sophia Myles was on it). And even though Spooks: The Greater Good assumes the fact that we remember some elements of the mythology and continuity of the programme, there are enough clues and context to deduct the missing information. Spooks: The Greater Good keeps a methodic rhythm which obliges us to pay attention and make the connections between the labyrinthine screenplay at the same time as the characters, while the few action scenes are brief but intense and brutal, working as a satisfactory punchline of the drama... they are never employed as filler or distraction for impatient spectators. In conclusion, I liked Spooks: The Greater Good very much, due to its fascinating screenplay, solid direction and excellent performances from the whole cast (highlighting Peter Firth and Kit Harington). Spooks might have been born as an answer to 24, but it was never a simple copy, and Spooks: The Greater Good does the same in cinema, avoiding Hollywood formulas in order to focus into the motivation of the spies and the ideology of the political forces controlling them... or trying to manipulate them.

cunningsmile I'm guessing from the spelling and turn of phrase that a lot of the reviews for this film are from Americans. A lot of the same reviews accuse it of being racist and clichéd with a "middle eastern terrorist bad guy" (he's actually Pakistani but why let geography get in the way?). I guess you need the same mind set as the makers of this film to realise the terrorists are the victims and the bad guys, as they usually were in the Spooks series, are the British. There's a particularly British mind set that distrusts authority figures and thinks they are usually corrupt or at least overly self interested and its in plain view throughout: Harry isn't searching for terrorists, he's looking for a traitor. The final show down isn't guns blazing as terrorists die in a hail of bullets, it's two people sat in a living room talking.It's the same mind set that birthed writers like John La Carre and stories like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It produces slow burning paranoid stories rather than big explosions and gun fights that feature in American cinema. Maybe that's the problem, it's a story style better suited to the small screen and the cinema should be left to the other film this year called MI5

Chappy Watched I had heard of the show but never watched any of it but was still interested in watching this movie.It was a lot more drama filled than the cover and trailer led me to believe. It was still an enjoyable movie but I can't help but still be a little disappointed about the lack of action. There was a lot of running, about one fight and a couple more 'action' scenes but nothing action packed.It has an excellent cast of British talent including Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8), Peter Firth (Spooks), Elyes Gabel (Scorpion), David Harewood (Supergirl), Jennifer Ehle (A Gifted Man) and plenty more.I could just be me, as someone who hasn't watched Game of Thrones, but I didn't think much of Kit Harington in this film. I mean he seems good at the little bit of action that's in this film but I looked like he only had one emotion throughout the whole film!Something that annoyed me was this was supposed to MI-5 but in a lot of scenes, they weren't very inconspicuous when they were tailing someone or hiding during an op (Please note: If the real MI-5 is reading this – I mean this movie. I'm sure you guys do a great job!).Overall the cast and an entertaining story made this an okay movie to watch.While this movie seems to leave things open for a sequel, which I would probably watch, I don't feel the need to watch this film again.