|
A Perfect Murder
Year of Release: 1998
Cast: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet
Director: Andrew Davis
Writer: Patrick Smith Kelly
Rating: R
Running Time: 107 Minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
A remake of Alfred Hitchock's classic Dial M for Murder, this movie stars Michael Douglas in his slimiest, most menacing role since his Oscar-winning performance as the human personification of greed in Wall Street. He plays a millionare married to a younger woman (Paltrow), who isn't the most morally conscious person in the world herself. She is sneaking around behind her husband's back to have an affair with a rugged artist (Mortensen). The only problem is that her husband knows what she is up to, and he also knows about the artist's secret con-man past. Douglas visits Mortensen and tells him that he has 2 choices: either Paltrow and the police can find out about his true identity, or he can kill Paltrow and receive a $500,000 payment from Douglas. Mortensen chooses the second option, but the murder goes terribly wrong, and the rest of the movie plays out as a sharp thriller with Paltrow coming closer and closer to the truth, and with Douglas trying to conceal the truth from both his wife and the police. The movie is sleek and suspenseful, and the performances are all good. However, we've seen it all several times before, and the ending is unoriginal and not thrilling enough at all.
- Average
|
