A PERFECT MURDER(1998)
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Andrew Davis
Written by: Patrick Smith Kelly. Based on a play by Frederick Knott
Starring: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet
Ingredients: Ex convict, rich husband and wife who don't get along
Synopsis: This movie is about various battles between three characters. Steven (Michael Douglas) is a greedy old rich guy whose fortune is going down the tubes, fast. But he stands to inherit extra money if his heiress wife dies. Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow) is Steven's beautiful unfaithful wife. She is a United Nations linguist who doesn't love Steven, and is having a steamy affair with artist David. Meanwhile David (Viggo Mortensen) is a manipulative money grubbing ladies man who has targeted Emily's riches.
The story opens with Emily and David committing adultery, and Steven secretly finding out about it. From then it's a question of who plans to kill whom, and who foils whom. The greedy and clever Steven gets the lion's share of the battles and schemes, battling both David and Emily. Of course, one of the three plots a perfect murder, hence the title.
An interesting side character is introduced in the form of Detective Mohamed Karaman (David Suchet) a sharp police chief who noses around investigating the murder.
Opinion: On the good side, it's interesting to see which one of the three strategists - - David, Steven, or Emily - - will emerge victorious in the end. On the bad side, the matchups are kind of lopsided. Steven and David seem to be masters of deceit, while Emily's the kind of person who - - soon after being brutalized by a thug - - deliberately wanders around alone in a seedy lower class neighborhood. Emily shows promising multilingual abilities which she uses to make the acquaintance of Detective Karaman and some Hispanic tenants, but it turns out she can just as easily complete her strategies without them, and in English.
I was a little bit disappointed in the weak alliance between Emily and Karaman. As soon as Detective Karaman arrives on scene to investigate the murder, there's an instant feeling of electricity. Here's a guy who can read human nature from a mile away. Karaman is brilliantly played by David Suchet (he also plays Agatha Christie's Inspector Hercule Poirot in the PBS detective series). He takes compassion on Emily, and likewise, she connects to his Middle Eastern culture and language, but unfortunately, the two don't partner up as in cop buddy movies.
If you liked Michael Douglas as the heartless corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's WALL STREET, he gives basically the same performance here. Meanwhile - - as the sleazy, long-haired artist - - Viggo Mortensen does a complete about face from his crew cut navy Master Chief John Urgayle role in GI JANE. Mortensen does a great job as the reprehensible young artist. Of the three, Gwyneth Paltrow probably has the most complicated character. Is she a cold and unfaithful vixen who has latched on to a wealthy marriage of convenience, or is she just a naïve linguist in search of empowerment?
It's tough to root for any of the three main characters when the winner's got to be either an adulteress, a sleazy young manipulator, or a greedy old manipulator. What good is a schlumpy, morally relativistic message, right? However, it's interesting from a dramatic standpoint to watch the actors/actresses one-up each other.
Reviewed by David Sunga June 6, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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