takeover of the party was left out. The film removes a large section of the book in regard to Preston's investigation into Jan Marais in South Africa. The character of the assembler in the book is a man, although the surname is the same. He is killed by getting his neck broken in a forest rather than being shot in bed. In the novel, the Soviet sailor is attacked by street thugs and later commits suicide by jumping from the top floor of a hospital, while in the movie he is hit by a truck. In the book the story about Berenson is linked to the atomic plot because it provides a way for Irvine to send a false message to Karpov suggesting the operation is blown. Karpov, fearful of a scandal then sends Winkler, his worst agent, to help Preston find Petrofsky, hoping that in exchange Irvine will ensure any scandal will be suppressed. The theme is of backchannels between individuals in opposing intelligence services working to counter dangerous opportunism within their governments. The end of the film implies Irvine and Karpov have a much more cynical collaboration simply to help their careers. Sir Nigel Irvine is a much more positively-presented character in the book, where he supports Preston because he genuinely respects his abilities, has Petrofsky killed to undercut the KGB without going to war (and in the book, Preston accepts this with mild disappointment instead of the sheer anger he shows in the film), and arranges for Preston to get lucrative private-sector work so he can win sole custody of his young son. Brian Harcourt-Smith is a jerk in both the film and book, but the movie ignores him for the entire third act. In the book, his mishandling of the situation with Petrofsky leads the senior MI-5 leaders to nix his appointment as Director-General, and he angrily resigns to take a job at a bank. Reception Box office The film debuted at no. 4 at the box office with $3.6 million in ticket sales. In the UK it made £766,413. Critical response Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave the film a score of 74% based on reviews from 19 critics. The Globe and Mail'''s film critic Jay Scott said that "the movie is entertaining on a rudimentary, never-to-be-taken-seriously level. On the rare occasions when it does rise above the material, it's because Pierce Brosnan is chillingly effective as