Alex Garland's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel is a cold, immaculate period thriller � a film so precise in construction and so devastating in emotional logic that it feels like someone assembled a bomb and handed it to the audience.
Garland at 98%
At 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Secret Agent is the most acclaimed film of the 2025�2026 season. Garland (Ex Machina, Civil War) adapts Conrad's Victorian-era spy novel � about a double agent, his anarchist cell, and a catastrophic plot that destroys everyone � with a restraint that makes the violence, when it finally comes, genuinely shocking. Cillian Murphy's Verloc is one of cinema's great portraits of moral vacancy: a man who has made so many compromises he can no longer feel their weight until it's catastrophically too late.
"A masterpiece. Garland has made the definitive adaptation of Conrad's great novel � cold, merciless, and impossible to shake."
� The New YorkerRonan, Colman, Rylance
Saoirse Ronan's Winnie provides the film's emotional spine � her arc from quiet endurance to devastating action is where the novel's dark genius lives. Olivia Colman in a brief role provides unexpected emotional context. Mark Rylance's Russian handler Vladimir is pure, quiet menace.
The Verdict
The finest film of 2025 and an instant classic. Garland has achieved something rare � a literary adaptation as urgent as contemporary news. Essential.
Alex Garland's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel is a cold, immaculate period thriller � a film so precise in construction and so devastating in emotional logic that it feels like someone assembled a bomb and handed it to the audience.