Review of Sleuth (2007) by Andrew G — 03 Jun 2010

"In this day and age, is marriage absolutely necessary? Isn't it a bit old-hat?" Andrew Wyke -- Michael Caine.

Of Michael Caine's career, the original Sleuth, in my opinion, is one of the best; second only to the Italian Job as his best film. Since the turn of the 20th Century, there are not many films that have been free from a remake, because Hollywood is so genuinely lazy. Though Sleuth was originally a play, this film is more a remake of the 1972 classic, highly evidenced by Caine's return to the film. Despite the arguments as to whether or not this is a remake, it's fair to say that it was highly unnecessary. Could we have lived without another Sleuth film? Yes, and I dare say that Hollywood could have spent the time and money on funding an original film, or at least a remake that would try to do something different.

Just like the original, Sleuth is about 2 very clever British men, in games of Trickery and Deceit. One of them is Andrew Wyke, a famous and highly successful author who lives alone in his High-Tech mansion. His wife Maggie, who never makes a physical appearance in the film, has left him for a much younger man: Milo Tindle, an aspiring actor and part-time hairdresser. Tindle seeks to convince Wyke into divorcing his wife, so Tindle can legally marry her. Wyke begins a series of games and tricks with Tindle, seeking revenge. The biggest problem with the plot in this film isn't so much that we've seen it before, but that we've seen it before much better. The first two "games" are the same in both films, but it's clear to see which did them better. Perhaps the reason the original succeeded more is due to the run time. The original clocked in at 2 hours and 12 minutes, whereas this one is 1 hour and 28 minutes long. Despite being 40 minutes longer, the original seemed to have the better pace, because though it explained and displayed the "games" and the details behind it thoroughly, it felt organic to the story. It helped add depth to the characters, which is why it was so good. It was just about an hour before the second "game" began, and by that time, we'd not only been highly entertained, but we had seen a lot of the different sides to each character. In this one, everything goes by really quick, which means that we get no attachment of any kind to the characters. Without the attachment, they're just set pieces and as a result, uninteresting. Something I disliked was the house owned by Wyke. The idea behind Wyke in the original was that he was a genius, but the house showed a lot about the character. He knew he was genius, but the house represented the childish side of him, with the constant games and silly oriented things, like the laughing Pirate. In this, it's just high-tech, and shows sophistication, but that's pretty much it. It's actually more like what an 80's film would anticipate the future houses to be like. I want to talk about the ending to the film, because it was much different to the original. In this one, they hint that Wyke has become attracted to Tindle because of his mind. The original on the other hand has Tindle trying to prove himself as smarter and better in every aspect. I didn't believe in Wyke falling in love with Tindle, and it was due to just how lazy they incorporated it into the plot.

Unlike the remakes of the Italian Job and Alfie, they got Michael Caine to return in this film. However, he's playing the opposite role that he did last time, Andrew Wyke, a role that gained Laurence Olivier an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor for his performance in 1972. Caine is my favourite living actor, and it saddens me to say that he doesn't play the role as well as Olivier. Sure, he delivers the serious and stubborn part of the persona extremely well, but Olivier's character was more joyful, almost as if he was a child in a man's body. He could easily alternate between deadly serious and playful. Caine was much better in the role that Jude Law plays; he too gained a nomination for Best Actor in 1972. Law's version of Tindle is inconsistent. He starts out as a sophisticated individual, and by the end of the film, we're meant to believe that he has changed completely, and is raving mad. It's unconvincing and overall underused because of the poor pace that the film has.

It's uncommon for a remake to be as good as the original film, and Sleuth is no exception. It's unnecessary, and quite frankly I don't care for it at all. Yes the original is a longer film, but if you seek it out and watch that one, you'll get a great level of satisfaction. This on the other hand is completely forgettable, and not recommended.

Andrew's rating: 2.5 out of 10.