Under Suspicion
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Movie Reviews of Under Suspicion
Movie Review: Long on Potential - Short on Delivery
Summary: 2 Stars
Like its French inspiration, "Garde a Vue," this Stephen Hopkins film attempts to follow the tack of a psychological thriller but fails. It might have taken the path of a pure who-dunnit except that it is far too slow, caught up within its self imposed venue and contains entirely too much trivial talk.
I'll mention, for purposes to be addressed later, that the the film is an adaptation of the English novel "Brainwash," by John Wainwright, but unlike every novel's predisposition, this film makes no attempt to 'set up' the characters so the audience might witness their methodical exposure. Freeman and Hackman are intermittently engrossing during the very long 101 minutes it takes to reach the end - and it is ever the ending the writer has in mind. The bulk of the story is a setup for the ending, so, if the story isn't spun out adroitly, the ending becomes pointless and you've wasted 2 hours and seven bucks.
Hackman and Freeman certainly have the chops to work in a more tightly wound presentation, but their characters need more meat on their bones so the audience even cares that one or the other's flesh is being stripped away in front of our eyes. We're never given the opportunity to meet these protagonists, form any opinions or understand either characters essential facade, so, in the end we just don't care what happens to either of them.
I am tempted, after watching this film, to go read the book. Like the optimistic child who dives into a mound of horse manure declaring "there must be a pony in here somewhere," I'm tempted to believe that this mound of bs must have once been a good yarn.
Movie Review: Under Depression
Summary: 2 Stars
Despite the fact of the excellence of acting of Morgan Freeman and the interesting performance of Gene Hackman, this movie comes off as a mishmash. The theme of sexual abuse of a child is such an emotionally loaded one that it needs to be treated with great sensitivity. In "Under Suspicion" (US), it is exploited to further the plot. Hackman as Henry Hearst is great in the scene where he confesses that he "likes them young" as his young wife watches through the glass. Thomas Jane is explosive as the young detective who can't control himself. Monica Bellucci as wife Chantal comes across as an ice princess, covering all emotions from A to B. The DVD version doesn't offer much more, no deleted scenes. The discourse on the filming is embarrassing. Freeman and Hackman talk about how much they loved the French film (Garde a Vue by Claude Miller) on which this was based. Because US is so poor, it's sad to see how little enthusiasm can accomplish. They liked the tension between the characters; and that was good. Perhaps this is why the two stars, who were also the executive producers, were blinded to the fact that the film also needed a coherent plot and an ending the audience can take with them. As a result, this comes off as more of an artpiece than a movie. We could retitle the film "Under Depression," which is how I felt after wasting my time watching it. TAXI!Movie Review: Convoluted
Summary: 2 Stars
Didn't like it, but it does make you think. Mostly because you can't figure out what's going on half the time. Here's my take on the ending: Hackman's character atually does have a pedophilia problem (first meets his wife when she's 11 and he's like 50+; spends more time with the niece than the wife; has all sorts of pictures of very young girls - including the murder victims) and by confessing to the murders he both acknowledges this and escapes from his wife, whom he can't seem to stomach. It may be that Director Hopkins is making a statement that there's not much difference between the murder's lust and Hackman's lust. Or that appearances are deceiving. Or both. In any event, it's a pretty depressing film. The next video I rented was Rocky and Bullwinkle - at least I could sort out the good guys from the bad guys in that one.....Movie Review: Bizarre to the End
Summary: 2 Stars
Here's a film with two great actors that seemed to muddle through the script and plot. Maybe it's cause I worked a full day before seeing this, but I kept falling asleep. Hackman is a guy accused of a rather heinous crime, and Freeman is the cop trying to tie him to the crime. The whole film is basically one long interrogation. I thought that the film dragged on, but the end actually tied everything together nicely, and made for a well written closure to an otherwise "blah" movie. If you want to see Gene Hackman in a better role, take a look at "The French Connection".Movie Review: 2 great actors & 1 breathtakingly beautiful actress
Summary: 2 Stars
And story development process is interesting. Hackman and Freeman, they know how to act. Italian-born Monica Belluci looks hot. The problem is the story. Not very interesting or attracting.