Having seen this movie only once before, in the late 1980s, I looked forward to seeing if it held up as well as I perceived it as a youngster. Frankly, it doesn't really. There are solid performances all round, with Ian Hendry taking the honours for his turn as the nervy Alex. But the cast's abilities are ultimately hindered by the script. For example Lee Grant has no material with which to improve upon the cliched, weak woman created by so many male scriptwriters of the era. (Did nobody in showbusiness back then watch The Avengers??!!) Meanwhile Bert Parsons' (Harry Andrews) misogyny is too cheesily scripted - his attitude needed subtlety and some backstory to be understandable and believable.
Nonetheless the audience is drawn in to Elliot's (James Coburn) diabolical scheme but the flaws of the movie's central idea become quickly obvious. His small network of mutually-unaquainted spies are clearly amateurs and, as such, hardly people you would rely upon to act as competent "Black Op" executors, with the cool detachment and efficiency to adhere to the strictly prescribed schedule under stressful conditions, let alone commit their first exterminations. They accept their deadly assignments without suggesting that Elliot himself would be better suited to carry out the killings. In partial fairness, though, we do see Alex start to "bottle out" during his own murderous mission.
The killings themselves are nicely staged - and the "mechanics" of this is essentially the film's best aspect and "USP". However, other than relying on Ian Hendry's usual superb acting abilities, there's little sense of tension, much less suspense. The "mechanics" are rather too, well, "mechanical"!
The shortcomings are lifted somewhat by Roy Budd's laudable score which, perhaps inevitably, is similar to his work on Get Carter.
The twist in the denouement is delicious and we cheer Elliot's final scene. It also leaves a chilling aftertaste, which may have been intentional by the writers. As Elliot drops the deadly "weapon" at the feet of a gathering crowd of onlookers, it could so easily have been picked up by one of them... a la the real world Salisbury Novichok outrage of 2018.
Overall, then, The Internecine Project is enjoyably frivolous - ironically somewhat akin to the aforementioned The Avengers. And as a fan of that show, my score is probably more generous than this movie deserves. If it fails, it's because it was clearly intended as a "serious", albeit slightly outlandish, work. It presents us with a movie very much of its era (though thankfully without the usual appalling clothing fashions!) - in both positive and negative senses. I am not generally disposed to remaking movies but there is a nub of a great, intriguing idea here, which could so easily be refined and improved upon.
