This
remake of Dial M for Murder, should have changed it's name to Dial S for Stupid.
It's not a total waste--Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen
are outstanding and play off each other to near perfection. What's lacking is
suspense. I never once felt scared or concerned for any of the characters.
Paltrow
plays a woman having an affair. Douglas is the husband and Mortensen is the other
man in Paltrow's life. The plot thickens when Douglas pays Mortensen to kill his
wife. What follows, is a sequence of events that don't deliver the thrills you'd
expect. The film opens nicely with some great tension between the leads, but then
A Perfect Murder begins to provide less thrills as it moves along. Somewhat surprising,
considering it was directed By Andrew Davis, who gave us the taut thriller, The
Fugitive. Although this was better than Davis' Chain Reaction, it still doesn't
really offer any surprises. And it's further bogged down by a ridiculously lame
ending that seemed like it was tagged on at the last minute, in an attempt to
exhilarate the audience.
Davis
gets terrific performances from a first rate cast. Michael Douglas is in Wall
Street mode and although he's done this before (see The Game) this is what he's
good at. Gwyneth Paltrow is slowly gaining respect as an actress after starring
in a string of supporting roles including Seven. This year alone, she's starred
in five different films including; Sliding Doors, and the atrocious Hush. Not
long ago, she appeared in Emma, in which she was absolutely charming. She also
does the best job she can with A Perfect Murder--she just isn't given much to
do. Viggo Mortensen, who's actually been around for quite a while, is great as
an artist with a hidden agenda. He's one of Hollywood's best character actors.
In
an attempt to be an intense mystery, A Perfect Murder emerges as an imperfect
film and a fairly forgettable thriller that could have used more thrills.
