Like its French inspiration, "Garde a Vue," 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 he 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 rest 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.
I'll mention, for purposes to be addressed later, that the he 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 rest 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.