侦察 Sleuth review by Doris Toumarkine

A peephole into the nastier corners of the male ego and human nature, the two-character Sleuth has enjoyed a robust life on the stage and on film. (Michael Caine had the role of the younger character, co-starring with Sir Laurence Oliver in the 1972 movie version.) In the current incarnation, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter integrates incisive dialogue, a high-tech environment and a darker take on where human instincts can take us to deliver an entertaining ride for more demanding thrill-seeking audiences.

Reflecting the new century, Kenneth Branagh’s Sleuth adds dollops of post-modern design and new technology to its inhumane showdown, more battle than ballet of wits. Milo Tindle (Jude Law) shows up at the lavish country estate of Andrew Wyke (Caine, now in the Olivier role) to demand that the celebrated pulp novelist allow wife Maggie a divorce. Maggie, you see, is now Milo’s lover and her marital ties to Wyke stand in the way of their happiness. So does Maggie’s habit of spending large, as Milo is an out-of-work actor with limited cash flow.

Thus begins the power struggle that cleverly shifts back and forth between the two men. Wyke has the big bucks and option to let his wife go. But why should the humiliated cuckold accommodate the man sleeping with his wife?

The inventive Wyke suggests a solution. He wants to arrange a break-in that has Milo stealing valuable jewels from his safe. It’s win-win: Wyke gets the insurance; Milo gets the jewels and the receipt that assures he can fence the booty at top dollar. Oh, and Milo also gets the girl. Milo agrees and elaborate logistics unfold (there’s the safe, the combination, skylight, the ladder). There’s also a gun.

As happens, things go awry: The gun goes off, a character disappears, another materializes. Wyke and Milo each exploit their strengths. Wyke, for his part, attempts to manipulate Milo as if he were one of the author’s characters. Being an unemployed actor doesn’t mean that Milo can’t act or has no bollocks. Milo pulls a fast one on Wyke, who fires back, maybe literally. They trump each other as their game-playing continues and grows uncomfortably more dangerous and personal. One character, in fact, may be a little “light in his shoes” and maybe Maggie, by now on her way to Wyke’s estate, is a nuisance that neither really wants.

As in the original material, Sleuth, set and shot in the U.K., is also a sidelong glance at class, with Wyke’s sense of entitlement butting up against Milo’s reckless cheek. Wyke’s scorn for Milo is deepened by the fact that the latter is a “half-breed” whose father was Italian. The heartless characters and tense showdown have a worthy complement in the film’s often icy-blue look and the décor’s oh-so-designer-inspired cold, stark interiors.

This latest Sleuth, as a big-screen offering, entertains more than it should, a sure sign that the real culprit is the fine talent assembled.

*小建议*如果你喜欢这篇文章,可以顶上去;或者Copy下这篇文章的链接发给MSN或QQ上的朋友; 我们永远相信,分享是一种美德,Great People Share Knowledge... (130影萍网谢谢您的关注和支持！)

上一篇：侦察 Sleuth review by PAM GRADY
下一篇：侦察 Sleuth review by James Berardinelli