Review of Sleuth (2007) by Mattias O — 08 Dec 2009

I was really excited to see this movie. The original is a brilliant verbal duel between two men, an older successful novelist and a younger poorer man who are fighting over the older man's unseen wife.

The novelty of Caine returning to it but playing the older character and the direction of Branagh made this a must see for me. I try to remain open minded about remakes but this one, although the first two acts had much of the same power of the original, with Caine in particular biting into every line and the set decoration reflecting his cold personality perfectly, the odd third act that suggested an attraction between the two men felt unjustified and unearned.

Law goes very needlessly over the top in this part. I think the third act was changed to differentiate it from the original but it was not for the better. Thus although I entered the film excitedly when it was over, I felt kind of blah.

What a shame, as it was heading in a good way up to that point.