The Human Factor
Studio: Dark Sky Films
WorkNameSort: Human Factor, The
The hulking, rock-like mass of George Kennedy was never really made for star appeal, and he’s considered himself more of a character actor even when playing leading parts. As a more emotionally distraught version of Lee Marvin’s violent avenger in Point Blank, Kennedy chews up the majority of screen time in The Human Factor and doesn’t have the charisma to elevate this plodding, uninvolving policier to art or even serviceable entertainment. Kennedy plays a NATO electronics analyst working with the American embassy in Naples, where his wife and kids are inexplicably murdered. He devotes his life to hunting down the killers, a cabal of political terrorists targeting American families. The supermarket bloodbath climax remains shocking today, but it’s too little too late. Besides, if there are any blunt, roughshod charms to be gleaned from this film, they’re devoured by an awful transfer. The image is grubby, splotchy and unfocused, and the horrible acoustics are amplified, not rectified, in the switch to DVD.
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2006.