Sending a director of Simon West's size back to the UK to direct a military action film without the backing of a major studio is a difficult task. With a cast of homegrown b-list actors, the film has an eerie texture that's somewhere between Internet and Hollywood. Of course, the weakest point of the movie is the script, the story characters lack characterization, the plot is boring and stupid...

British, MI6, Agents... Everything in the film reminds me of 007. Even the female boss and the Thames boat chase seem to pay homage to the James Bond series. And the early news of the veteran 007 actor Roger Moore's death. Looks like there's a message in there somewhere. But Stratton is clearly not in the same league as the James Bond series. It's just a normal commercial film. No matter the story, action, scene or casting are far from the same

The story boils down to tracking down poison gas bombs and the extra interlude of spy agency mutiny, and with Simon West as director at least the action and pace of the movie make sense. The initial setup seems to be a big one, but in the second half of the chase scene, a bus chase and an anti-tank missile are all that are needed to expose the cost of running out of money. Fat Malfoy is a bit of a spectacle, revealing his identity and killing himself.