All I have to say is, what a let down.  After last week I thought things were really going to pick up with The Company, and I was sorely disappointed.

Somehow we jumped straight from Cuba in the early 60's to post-Vietnam '75 and '76.  Yeah lets just ignore that entire 10-15 year period.  Because we know the CIA didn't have anything to do with or in Vietnam.  cough Laos cough Air America *coughcough*

Anyway....

So they're still trying to figure out who the "new" mole is.  And of course they find out, and of course its someone you least expect.  But to get there really didn't go anywhere.  If that makes any kind of sense at all.

Not until the very end did we come back to the Yevgeny (Rory Cochrane) /McCaullife connection.  And even that was just hit on and then seemingly brushed aside.

In the end the Berlin wall comes down, the Soviet Union falls, and somehow we're led to believe that the CIA might've had some involvement with securing Yeltsin's position in the new Russia.  Er, ok.

There were a couple of jabs at America which may have been valid put in context, but screamed more about making a statement on the current state of affairs.  The whole "arrogant imperialist" bit....  and then there's the "tobacco is bad m'kay" thing going on with Angleton (Michael Keaton) that just screamed of being preachy.

The final scene gave a little bit of closure and meaning to the whole experience, though.  With McCauliffe (Chris O'Donnell) and Harvey (Alfred Molina) talking about whether or not they made any difference.  That at least made you think a little.  Just a little.

In the end I can't say I was all that impressed with the entire thing.  The last hour left you feeling somewhat like that last 45 minutes of "The Return of the King," where Sauron was defeated and we had to spend the time watching all the reunions and tearful farewells.  While it might make for good reading it makes for tedious film.

As for the performances, I really can't fault anybody there.  O'Donnell was his usually adequate self, Molina's character really just had bit parts here and there.  Keaton was great as usual but his character suffered more from writing I think than anything.  Must've been difficult to play a dull, boring, bureaucrat....

With any luck The Company will fade off into oblivion and TNT won't shove it down our throats anymore.

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