ViewGuide

Created Mar 26, 2008 10:37PM PST • Edited Mar 26, 2008 10:37PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Today, we start off with the Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the tony-award-winning play, ‘Sleuth’. Don’t expect it to be a faithful representation of the much more innocent play and incidental 1972 movie (in which Michael Cane played the role Jude Law now fills,) Sleuth is a re-imagining of the story, put together quite brilliantly by screenwriter Harold Pinter. A twisted power struggle, a sick sort of cat and mouse game between the two characters over the love, or rather the possession, of a certain woman.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Michael Cane does a fantastic job of subtley playing the older writer, Andrew Wyke. There’s something about his presence that chills the air. Jude Law also, in a nice departure from his roles as a lovable womanizer, plays to a delicious point the mentally unstable man with a rent-boy look, Milo Tindle. That’s the whole cast essentially, and it works to the film’s benefit, making the film almost uncomfortably personal.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

   I have to point out, that Jude Law, especially during the second half of the film, in all his desperation and insanity, is quite seductive.

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Some interesting imagery. Jude Law compares it to the work of Francis Bacon on the dvd commentary, and I’m inclined to agree. There are various instances where the person with the upper hand at the time will be seen through something reflective or distorted, adding a disconcerting edge to the scene.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

    Sharp, quick, and witty. Particularly near the end, the way the innuendo is folded in is quite remarkable.

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    Very fitting, a good score.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    Interesting angles, it really adds to the experience of the thriller.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Horrid 4.0

    Some very harsh language. Lots of innuendo. Some scenes of attempted seduction. Guns being fired.

17. Sex Lewd 4.0

18. Violence Savage 4.0

19. Rudeness Nasty 4.0

21. Reality

    Glib 1.5

    There’s nothing really here that suggests it couldn’t happen. Some things may be eccentric, but in context it’s actually not all that far fetched.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Glib 1.5

24. Physical Glib 1.5