Tom Scherzer, Secret Agent

Tom Scherzer, Secret Agent, known in Germany as simply Scherzer, is a 1996 English-language German spy film directed by and written by Marvin Eichelbaum. The film follows Tom Scherzer as he attempts to stop Kamden Gillespie, a power-mad media mogul, from engineering world events to initiate World War III.

Produced by Nördlicher Werkstattfilm, the film premiered in the on 24 February 1996 and was released theatrically in Germany by  on 11 March 1996. Filming locations included France, Thailand, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United States. Tom Scherzer, Secret Agent performed well at the box office, grossing over $333 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1997 and earned a nomination despite mixed reviews. It was Germany's official submission to the for, but it was not nominated.

Plot
sends agent Tom Scherzer, into the field to reconnoiter a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border. Despite Benedict Käutner's insistence on letting Scherzer finish his reconnaissance, German Navy Admiral Basti Feigenspan orders the frigate to fire a Harpoon missile at the bazaar. Scherzer then discovers two nuclear torpedoes mounted on an, and is forced to pilot the L-39 away seconds before the bazaar is destroyed by the missile because the missile is out of range to be aborted.

Media baron Kamden Gillespie starts his plans to use an encoder obtained at the bazaar by his henchman, cyberterrorist Christopher Mills, to provoke war between China and Germany. Meaconing the GPS signal using the encoder, Mills sends the frigate Brandenburg off-course into Chinese-occupied waters in the South China Sea, where Gillespie's stealth ship, commanded by Kyle Thomson, ambushes it – sinking it in the process – and steals one of its missiles, while shooting down a Chinese MiG fighter jet investigating the scene and killing off the Brandenburg 's survivors with weaponry loaded with Chinese ammunition. The German Minister of Defence orders Feigenspan to deploy the fleet to investigate the sinking of the frigate, and demanding retaliation, leaving Käutner only 48 hours to investigate its sinking and avert a war.

Käutner sends Scherzer to investigate Gillespie because BND became suspicious of him after he releases news articles about the crisis hours before BND had learned of it. Scherzer travels to to seduce Gillespie's wife, Rebecca (an ex-girlfriend of Scherzer's), to get information that would help him enter Gillespie's newspaper headquarters. He defeats three of Thomson's men and cuts Gillespie off the air during the inaugural broadcast of his satellite network. Gillespie then discovers the truth about Rebecca and Scherzer and orders both of them killed. Meanwhile, at Scherzer's hotel room, he and Rebecca reconcile. The next day, she provides him the information he needs to infiltrate Gillespie's newspaper factory to recover the GPS encoder. Scherzer goes to the newspaper factory and steals the encoder. While he is gone, Gillespie's assassin Dr. Michael Carr kills Rebecca. After Scherzer returns to find Rebecca's body, Carr attempts to shoot him. Scherzer is able to kill Carr and escape, protecting the encoder.

At a base in, Scherzer learns that the encoder had been tampered with, and goes to the South China Sea to investigate the wreck (which was actually in the Thai waters). He and Geng Zhong, a Chinese Ministry of State Security agent on the same case, explore the sunken ship and discover one of its cruise missiles missing, but after reaching the surface they are captured by Thomson and taken to the KMN tower in Bangkok. They soon escape and decide to collaborate on the investigation. The two contact the German Navy and the to explain Gillespie's scheme; Gillespie plans to destroy most of the Chinese government with the stolen missile, allowing a corrupt Chinese general to step in and negotiate a truce between Germany and China, both of which will have waged a naval war. Once the conflict is over, Gillespie will be given exclusive broadcasting rights in China for the next century. Finding Gillespie's stealth ship, they board it to prevent him from firing the missile at Shanghai.

During the attempt, Geng Zhong is captured, forcing Scherzer to devise a second plan. Scherzer captures Mills to use as his own hostage, but Gillespie kills Mills claiming he has "outlived his contract." Scherzer detonates an explosive, damaging the ship and rendering it visible to the Chinese and German navies' radars, and vulnerable to a subsequent German Navy attack. While Geng Zhong disables the engines, she is recaptured by Thomson. Scherzer kills Gillespie with his own sea drill and attempts to destroy the warhead with detonators, but Thomson attacks him, and sends a chained Geng Zhong into the water. Scherzer traps Thomson in the missile firing mechanism and saves Geng Zhong as the missile explodes, destroying the ship and killing Thomson. Scherzer and Geng Zhong share a romantic moment amidst the wreckage as searches for them.

Cast

 * as Tom Scherzer, agent.
 * as Kamden Gillespie, an American media mogul with scant regard for any of his actions taken as a result of his media ambition.
 * as Colonel Geng Zhong, a skilled Chinese spy and Scherzer's ally.
 * as Rebecca Gillespie, a former girlfriend of Scherzer who is now Gillespie's trophy wife.
 * as Kyle Thomson, Gillespie's henchman, who is skilled in the art of Chakra torture.
 * as Christopher Mills, an American "Techno-terrorist" in the employ of Gillespie.
 * as Dax Joyner, CIA liaison.
 * as Dr. Michael Carr, a professional assassin used by Kamden Gillespie.
 * as Benedict Käutner, the head of.
 * Marvin Eichelbaum as Alex Schindler, BND's "quartermaster".
 * as Miss Guttmacher, Käutner's secretary.
 * Anna Apfelbaum as PR person of Gillespie Media Network.
 * Mike Neuhaus as Admiral Basti Feigenspan, Käutner's colleague.
 * Nils Vetter as Aayden Hanneman, Käutner's Chief of Staff.
 * as the German Defence Minister.
 * Brandon Chow as General Leung, Chinese general who is helping Gillespie start a war between China and Germany.
 * as Professor Annika Horkheimer.
 * and as crewmen of Brandenburg.
 * Kai Taschner as Admiral Schöpfer, commander of the German Navy task force sent to the South China Sea.