Review of Deception (2008) by Kenny B — 30 Dec 2008

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams.

Jonathan McQuarry: [after having sex with a woman in The List] Can I ask you something? Why do you do this?

Wall Street Belle: For the same reason that men do it - the economics of the arrangement. It's intimacy without intricacy. I work past midnight almost every night.

Jonathon McQuarry(McGregor) is an awkward guy, who works long hours and has no real personal life. He works until almost midnight, making sure that huge law firms have straight books. The thing that keeps Jon going is that he loves numbers and he loves the money. He doesmt have a social life and he tries to keep to himself. One night while working late, he meets Wyatt Bose, the high class, high society and late night partier. Wyatt(Jackman) and Jonathon sit around late at night, talking, enjoying a late night joint to help them focus. They become instant friends, until the next day Wyatt tells Jon that he is on his way out of town for a few weeks for business. An accidental slip of the cell phone doesnt seem like much, and Wyatt doesnt make a big deal of it. That night Jon gets a call asking are you free tonight, which leads to him becoming a member of Wyatt's sex club. It leads to late nights and early mornings, and for Jon a chance for adventure, a chance at something new. He meets ?S? (Michelle Williams) and he falls for her, breaking all rules of the club, no names, no contact and no conversation. Jonathon is then sent on a wild chase and learns that Wyatt set him up, setting him up for a wild showdown which leads to some non stop crazy fun for the end of the film.

Ewan McGregor will always be famous for his role as Obi Wan Kenobi, he will never be able to shed that image, but he was had a few chances to let it go so that people could focus on him solely as an actor and not just as Obi Wan. Ewan did give a good turn in Big Fish, A godd effort in the Island. He has never been able to break through, he has never found himself that shell cracking role, where he rids himself of his destined image. He had the chance here, and for the most part of the film it seemed like he was going to do so, but like most performances in thriller films he fails to capture the ending of the film, he fails to keep his character alive and fails to give him no meaning as the film progresses. A man in the posistion that Jon is in would have never been able to adapt that much. It becomes a struggle of powerhouses when it should have been the struggle of a I-dont-know-what-to-do nerdy accountant who relies on police help and a little grace from god.

Hugh Jackman however is great, he embodies a criminal, he gives him breath and he lives it. Jackman has come off sucess in X-men and is living big, trying his hand in new things, producing, starring in different roles. Jackman has really come into his own, has really shown crowds all around the world that he is here to make it big. Jackman hands us Wyatt Bose and he delivers Wyatt on a silver platter for the crowds to loathe, but somewhat understand. Wyatt Bose needs help, needs to have a new life, and Jackman shows us his cool grace as well as desperation.

Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Dawsons Creek) gives us a character that noone really knows a lot about. She has no name to the people, no development, she just comes and gos, while Jonathon falls for her. Williams gives her best, but how are people supposed to feel and connect with a character they really know nothing about. Williams is great, she has the air of mystery the seductress quailities, and she can slip in out and people want to see more. They want to know more, but are left with nothing really. Williams and McGregor are great together, giving the audience some steamy dialogue with a few innuendoes, that serve some purpose to the final out come.

Deception gives us a look at what a sex club is, and how people who are alone can actually turn to something that really means nothing after that one night. You call the list, people answer, they tell you where to meet, you meet, the intiator pays the hotel, you have sex, part in the morning and you never talk to this person, you may call them again and the same thing happens.

Deception is a rather weird thriller, with some flaws. They fail to explain how complicated it is for people to find each other, and how hard it would be for people to manipulate your lives after one night of pot smoking and a visit to the strip club. Still for romance fans, it offers a lot of steamy scenes, where people just have sex for the sake of it, weird in itself, but this the premise of this film, a sex club that turns rather deadly. Who knew sex could be so dealdly?

A good attempt, but it doesnt keep you interested, it leaves you wishing it would have been atleast half the length and filled in the gaps with less sexual tension between characters and more revealing of who they truly are as people.