Review of Ripley's Game (2002) by Stephen M — 17 Feb 2008

Already superbly adapted by Wim Wenders as "The American Friend", and with Anthony Minghella's stylish prequel "The Talented Mr Ripley" lingering pleasantly in the memory, the odds were stacked against "Ripley's Game" from the outset, but it's still a disappointment given some of the talent involved.

I've seen dafter stories than this lent credibility by a safe pair of directorial hands, but Liliana Cavani fails to create any tension, and even the best sequence--a reasonably suspenseful, blackly comic contract killing on a train--is lacklustre.

John Malkovich is suavely languid as Tom Ripley, but he, Ray Winstone, composer Ennio Morricone and just about everybody else appears to be coasting half-heartedly. Chiara Caselli, as Ripley's lover, starts out as a sadistic, passive accomplice in his malevolent games, but her potentially interesting character is sidelined once Ripley and Trevanny (Dougray Scott) form their uneasy alliance.