STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
In 2006, in Dubai, MI6 agent Ray Koval (Clive Owen) is burned out by Secret Service Agent Stenwick (Julia Roberts) who he meets again a few years later in Grand Central. They both now work in private security for rival firms whose CEOs hate each other. With a revolutionary new product coming out that both companies are vying for, we follow the pair as they flash backward and forward between different times and places, never really sure if they're playing each other or they're playing together.
I'm the type of guy who likes to know what he's letting himself in for, especially with my films. I like my films to have a certain amount of intelligence, but if it's going to have a really complex, twisty turny sort of James Ellroy plot going on, I'd rather know in advance. I don't like it when films get so smug and high on their own sense of cleverness that watching them actually ends up becoming a less enjoyable experience. I don't know if I quite let this become the case with Duplicity, but there were times when I really struggled to keep up with what was going on and as a result my attention started to wonder as opposed to staying riveted.
I've just been surprised to learn this is the second directorial offering from Tony Gilroy, after the excellent Michael Clayton. There's a much lighter and less gloomy feel to this, which could show he's a director with varying talents. But the result is less impressive. The main problem is he's got absolutely carried away with this supposedly clever idea of having the plot relentlessly flash backward and forward six months ago here and a year later here etc., whilst balancing this with relevance to developments in the story, which would end up leaving the most intelligent and observant viewer exhausted. Performances wise, Owen tries hard as ever but still feels too wooden whilst Roberts does nothing special in the co starring role. A veteran from Gilroy's last film, Tom Wilkinson returns to provide support as the straight faced, serious CEO from Roberts's firm, with Paul Giamatti as his more comic relief rival but that they're one of the better things in the film says it all.
In the end, I much preferred Michael Clayton's dark, thoughtful, unflinching style to Duplicity's smug, pretentious, alienating tone. ***
In 2006, in Dubai, MI6 agent Ray Koval (Clive Owen) is burned out by Secret Service Agent Stenwick (Julia Roberts) who he meets again a few years later in Grand Central. They both now work in private security for rival firms whose CEOs hate each other. With a revolutionary new product coming out that both companies are vying for, we follow the pair as they flash backward and forward between different times and places, never really sure if they're playing each other or they're playing together.
I'm the type of guy who likes to know what he's letting himself in for, especially with my films. I like my films to have a certain amount of intelligence, but if it's going to have a really complex, twisty turny sort of James Ellroy plot going on, I'd rather know in advance. I don't like it when films get so smug and high on their own sense of cleverness that watching them actually ends up becoming a less enjoyable experience. I don't know if I quite let this become the case with Duplicity, but there were times when I really struggled to keep up with what was going on and as a result my attention started to wonder as opposed to staying riveted.
I've just been surprised to learn this is the second directorial offering from Tony Gilroy, after the excellent Michael Clayton. There's a much lighter and less gloomy feel to this, which could show he's a director with varying talents. But the result is less impressive. The main problem is he's got absolutely carried away with this supposedly clever idea of having the plot relentlessly flash backward and forward six months ago here and a year later here etc., whilst balancing this with relevance to developments in the story, which would end up leaving the most intelligent and observant viewer exhausted. Performances wise, Owen tries hard as ever but still feels too wooden whilst Roberts does nothing special in the co starring role. A veteran from Gilroy's last film, Tom Wilkinson returns to provide support as the straight faced, serious CEO from Roberts's firm, with Paul Giamatti as his more comic relief rival but that they're one of the better things in the film says it all.
In the end, I much preferred Michael Clayton's dark, thoughtful, unflinching style to Duplicity's smug, pretentious, alienating tone. ***