Review of Sleuth (2007) by Lauren - — 15 May 2008

It's very blue.

It was the 270th film I watched last year and maybe I was suffering from fatigue or maybe my prejudice against - petulant, whiny child- Jude Law adversely affected my thoughts and feelings concerning the film but I am afraid I seriously disliked the film. It lacked everything except the odd bark of laughter and two stars, one of whom is apparently intent on destroying his promising career by plundering the others back catalogue.

Now not to be entirely negative Caine at least has something, he is good at making the most atrocious dialogue sound good and he has moments but the dialogue from Harold Pinter is appalling, I thought at one point he was lampooning some of his own work, the mind boggles. However the worst thing about the film is Jude Law and his director Kenneth Branagh, I try very hard not to let my utter contempt of certain actors influence what I think about a film but Law it totally out of place, he is just exceptionally limp and seems ill at ease in the presence of Michael Caine and though neither gives a good performance Law looks particularly amateurish opposite Caine.

I like Kenneth Branagh I think his Henry V (1989) is an astounding film and he seems like a genuinely good guy in interviews not really very luvvie at all and I think he?s a good actor especially in Shakleton (2002) and he was the highlight of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) a wet film enlivened by his comical turn as a Professor, here he fails miserably and comes off as a self-indulgent minimalist ego driven Ikea fanatic. It is very dire directing, almost lumbering there are moments of flash and style (even more so towards the final pointless act) but overall Sleuth was a potentially interesting film ruined by lazy writing, flabby directing and no spark between the two leads one who I think did it for the check and the other lacking prowess.