I thought this film was quite good apart from 1 thing... was there a point to Ray Winstons character? He did not seem to contribute anything to the plot. Although his character was of course excellent.
shareThe Jedburgh character has more to do in the original (but then there was more plot, I suppose) but he still has a point in this one.
Firstly his actions explain how Craven remains alive and able to uncover as much as he does. If Jedburgh was of a mind to do his job as he would be expected to do, Craven would probably be dead very early, or the facts of the case would end up 'unintelligable'. He's the cog in the bad guys coverup machine that stops working, and this gives Craven the opportunity.
He also gives Craven some important information whilst never truly seeming on his side, so he adds a layer of intrigue the film wouldnt have had otherwise, which I would say makes it more interesting.
He's also there as someone who can actually realistically 'get' the bad guys. It's believable that Craven could get the jump on Bennett, but not that he'd be able to shoot his way to the senator (he'd have to shoot innocent policemen for a start, rather than just hired thugs). There would also be no way that Craven could have found out about the government bad guys, so Jedburgh is really the only one who could have doled out some justice to them.
Though, he basically justifies his involvement by being interesting I would say, regardless of how much effect he has on the plot.
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Because the original 1985 series set over 6 episodes featured a classic performance by Joe Don Baker as an american CIA agent advising Bob Peck as Craven when they rehacked the plot they needed his character and figured since Craven was now American they would flip over Jedburgh's identity to be a brit and cut his role down accordingly losing all the original characters charm in the process.
I love Ray Winstone's performances but the movie isnt a patch on the series and cutting down Jedburgh's screen time did leave him as a pointless character and as a brit myself wondered WTF he was actually in there for and why the brilliant original series was dumbed down to a revenge movie . Jedburhg's revenge in the original was a classic moment in TV history as was the joint assault on Northmoor
The movie Jedburgh was a cut down version of the tv version who was a character with more depth.
Its that man again!!