Sleuth (2007)

[BEERxTaco]

Did you guys notice they've remade this with Michael Caine in the Laurence Olivier role? Kinda cool... Jude Law in the Michael Caine role.



Remake of mystery swaps cold, cruel for lighthearted
By Harper Barnes
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Nov. 30 2007

In his annual guide to thousands of movies, Leonard Maltin accurately describes
the 1972 version of "Sleuth" as a lighthearted mystery. Here's a promise: When
Maltin gets around to thumbnailing the 2007 version of "Sleuth," he won't call
it lighthearted.

Like the original "Sleuth," the emotionally chilling new movie was adapted from
a play by Anthony Shaffer about two men in an English country house engaging in
a duel of wits and nerve. But the script was written by playwright Harold
Pinter, the Nobel Prize-winning master of deceit, contradiction, paradox and
general human nastiness.

"Light" is not the first adjective that comes to mind to describe Pinter's
heart.

An arrogant young man named Milo Tindle (Jude Law) visits the country estate of
a wealthy older man, Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine, who played Milo Tindle in the
1972 movie).

Tindle tells Wyke that he is going to steal his wife. In what appears to be a
spirit of devilish good sportsmanship, Wyke replies that his wife requires a
considerable sum of money for upkeep and proposes that Tindle burglarize the
mansion and steal his wife's jewels. Wyke will collect the insurance and
everyone will live happily ever after.

Not. The two men engage in a kind of psychological Ultimate Fighting match,
each having the upper hand for a while only to surrender it to the other.

Whereas the old movie glowed with a kind of Victorian warmth and whimsical
charm, the new one, as directed by Kenneth Branagh, is as coldly modernistic as
Wyke's mansion, all glass and steel and mirrors and electronic monitoring
equipment. Not only can neither of these men trust the other one, but we cannot
trust Pinter or Branagh to let us know just exactly who is doing what to whom.

The main problem with the new "Sleuth" is that the plot of the play, which
seemed a tad old-fashioned even in 1972, remains the arthritic skeleton of the
movie. This time, though, it is forced to bear a heavy load of cold, cruel
realism, and the character's actions are not always believable.

But the film moves fast, zipping past problematic moments, and a perverse kind
of pleasure comes from watching Caine — every crease in the veteran actor's
face hides a secret — and trying to figure out exactly when he is telling the
truth and when he is telling yet another cruel and potentially deadly lie.

[BEERxTaco]

What, no one liked this movie but me?

The original...

[mrbasehart]

I haven't seen either version, I'm afraid.  The trailer looked pretty decent, even if it seemingly gave away a plot spoiler.

[Tripe]

No I love that movie, I heard a story about it on NPR weeks (months?) ago. I didn't know when it was comming out though.

I'll want to see it to compare to the original.

Thought I have to say, removing the class warfare angle might lessen the drama really.

[the long undertow]

I like the way they did the original.  Not sure if the mood change and modernization will work out as well, but I'll have to see it to compare.