Review of Deception (2008) by Abhilash S — 17 Jan 2010

Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan) is a corporate auditor adrift in a sea of New York's power elite. Wyatt Bose (Hugh) is a charismatic corporate lawyer, who introduces Jonathan to a decadent playground for Manhattan's executive upper crust.

For these power brokers, whose eighteen-hour workdays leave no time for a personal life, there's "The List" - a sex club, of sorts, where the right cell-phone number and four simple words - "Are you free tonight?", can lead to an evening's sexual fulfillment.

Its a world without intricacy, as Jonathan's first conquest (or vice versa) explains to him, & through The List, Jonathan discovers a side of himself that he did not know existed. But an affair with a ravishing & mysterious stranger known to Jonathan only by her first initial 'S' (Michelle), exposes him to yet another world he never imagined, with full of treachery & betrayal.

Admitting that the story is not very much unexpected, but it was enough to form a fine thriller. And the way Langenegger directed the movie, in a stylish way, the movie is absolutely a one time watch thriller.

Though it has not gained many positive ratings in 'IMDb', the movie actually does not deserves it. It deserves something much more. Although the screenplay is a bit weak, but with the power-packed performances by Hugh Jackman & Ewan McGregor, story hardly matters.

The second half is definitely much more exciting than the first half. Michelle Williams did not had much to prove something regarding her acting skills. Also there are two small roles, by Maggie Q & Natasha Henstridge, & both of them looked sexy enough to seduce the viewers.

Director Marcer Langenegger made a decent debut, but it did not proved very lucky. The movie was presented in a bit of a stylish way. There is major reason why the movie failed to impress many viewers, & that is, many questions arise in the mind of the viewers, which are left unanswered, although they could have easily been sorted out.

The background score was fine. A treat for the lovers of erotic thrillers. A good thriller with impressive actors.