Review of Frantic (1988) by Tom G — 12 Jul 2010

Since Roman Polanski was released, I figured it was high time I finally get around to watching my DVD of Frantic. Thus I commemorated the day by watching this mostly great movie on the atrocious pan-and-scan DVD I bought ages ago from Half Price Books.

Within the first ten minutes I was hooked. Perhaps because of the sheer volume of cheesy exploitation movies I watch, it's not often that I'm overwhelmed by the sheer confidence and mastery evident in a film's technique.

For some reason this movie accomplished that. Though it gets off to a shaky start with a surprisingly cheesy theme from Ennio Morricone (thankfully it gets much better as it goes on), Polanski soon dazzles the viewer with his careful set-ups.

In this film it seemed that every movement of the camera had a specific purpose, which is perhaps why I was so impressed. Mostly these serve to heighten the suspense (indeed the techniques Polanski uses are very Hitchcockian), and also to maintain the audience's curiosity.

As much as I love the crazy camerawork of guys like Sam Raimi, I've got to respect Polanski for using the camera solely in service of the story. This is especially interesting, as the film altogether is more polished and assured than this earlier works, but much more effective than his later stuff.

In a way this marks the zenith of his career. While the technique is wonderful, the story itself isn't nearly as interesting as stuff like Chinatown or The Tenant. Perhaps we could see this as the Polanski version of a Hollywood thriller - perhaps not brimming with substance, but still very entertaining.

Polanski actually uses the opportunity to poke fun at Hollywood cliches. Most obvious is the casting of action star Harrison Ford. While in many movies he would be the bad ass hero, in this film he gets owned by the bad guys and loses his breath scaling a roof.

The ironic casting makes for plenty of laughs, but there's plenty of other humorous aspects (which I will not spoil here). As the heroine of sorts Emmanuelle Seigner is a little out of her depth next to the dependable Ford, but meets the basic requirements for the role (i.

E. be sexy and weird); unfortunately she suffers in the more dramatic scenes. The rest of the cast isn't as memorable except for an amusing character credited only as "Rastafarian". To sum it all up, I'd say this is an excellent thriller that's worthy of Hitchcock at his best.

Sadly the ending is somewhat anticlimactic. Despite that, I'd highly recommend to both the casual film-goer and the seasoned film nerd.