Customer Reviews

The Double

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Richard Gere, a retired CIA agent is called back from retirement to find a Soviet assassin believed to have been dead. A senator was murdered with the killer using the same MO as code name "Cassius" a former Russian agent assassin who was never caught. Gere is paired with Topher Grace, a young desk jockey from the FBI. Topher studied Cassius and wrote his thesis on him. He believes Cassius is alive and retired in the US and is the recent killer. Gere claims it is a copy cat killer and does not want to work with Topher.

There is an early plot twist, something we get enough hints to clue us in. Even though Topher lacks field experience he is fairly savvy. As they seek out Cassius, bodies start to accumulate. Martin Sheen plays the head of the CIA. While an early mystery is solved for us, there are others that exist. There are action scenes, killings, and drama. I felt the acting brought the film down. Gere was wrong for that role. I really would have liked a hipper Travolta. I did enjoy the soundtrack, which was a mild Russian pagan metal with a good drum beat. Makes for a decent spy drama rental. 3 1/2 stars. Gere fans can take it to 4 stars as he looks like he has stayed in pretty good shape for a man his age.

No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Mild swearing.

THE DOUBLE is an entertaining, at times far-fetched, espionage thriller in which retired CIA operative Richard Gere joins forces with rookie FBI agent Topher Grace to catch "Cassius," a Cold War-era Soviet assassin who has resurfaced and is now killing more people, including a U.S. Senator.

That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot of THE DOUBLE, because if I reveal more, I will be a Spoiler. There are a couple of surprising plot twists in this film, one of which even surprised me. That's not an easy thing to do.

On the other hand, that final twist is where the believability factor comes into play, but I won't say more.

The cast, which includes Stephen Moyer, and Martin Sheen, is very good and director Michael Brandt, who wrote the screenplay with Derek Haas, keeps the film, apparently shot in Washington, D.C., moving along at a nice pace.

Extras on the DVD from Image Entertainment include producer's interviews, plus audio commentary by Brandt and Haas.

© Michael B. Druxman

Richard Gere is certainly one of the good old time movie stars that we still have around. His career has had ups and downs, and I don't know how he will be judged in cinema's history. But he has a charisma that is difficult to ignore, and you wish he could reach greater heights. This is what I felt when I watched "The Double," an electrifying and intriguing film that will keep you glued to your seat until the very end.

The film opens with the assassination of US Senator Dennis Darden (Ed Kelly), who we briefly see earlier on TV arguing with another senator about Russia's resurgence. We then meet Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere), a retired CIA agent who is an expert on an extremely dangerous Russian spy by the codename of Cassius, who is suspected to be the senator's assassin. Shepherdson is informed by Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) that he will be partnered with Ben Geary (Topher Grace), who happens to be an FBI expert on Cassius, too. Shepherdson objects this decision, because Geary's experience on Cassius is only on paper, and he doesn't have the instinct to read or understand the soviet assassin. After a while, as you probably guessed, they get to work together. But that is when the story takes a quick turn, and we very early get to know who the real Cassius is, which entirely changes the dynamic of the film, making us guess until the film's final frame.

I have always enjoyed great, non-formulaic, intelligent spy movies, and "The Double" is one of them. It truly gives you food for thought in regards to the people around us. The DVD has an audio commentary by writer-director Michael Brandt and writer-producer Derek Haas, and more. (USA, 2011, color, 98 min plus additional material).

Reviewed on January 30, 2012 exclusively by Eric Gonzalez for Image Entertainment Blu-ray.

Evidently at least one reviewer did not like the movie as well as I did. This is an entertaining movie, with an interesting plot, well filmed and well acted - I might add - by both Topher Grace and Richard Gere. While there are points that stretch credibility, this had less to do with the story, and more to do with some lapses in terms of the main characters appearance who seemed to remain a remarkably consistent age and appearance through various flashbacks in which he was supposed to be younger - anyway.

But my complaints are minor and I was not the least bit cheated for my entertainment dollar. This would make a great Sunday afternoon movie for a wet spring day, with a few cups of hot soup, some coffee and friends over to watch it with. Recommended.

I rarely expect much from a direct-to-video release but "The Double" surprised me. While it's not a great movie "Double" is a fairly clever spy thriller.

Richard Gere plays Paul Shepherdson a CIA agent called out of retirement when the assassin code named Cassius that he killed appears to be killing political targets again taking out a U.S. Senator. Paired with Ben Geary a young FBI agent and analyst (Topher Grace)to track down Cassius and find out what exactly is going on and what his mission is. As Sheperdson and Geary dig a little deeper they become convinced that, perhaps, Cassius has branched out to become a serial killer.

I've read many of the other reviews for this film and most of them complain about how preposterous the plot is and ho unrealistic the film is. Folks--it's a movie. It's no better or worse than a film like "Salt" (actually quite a good spy thriller with some interesting twists)and while it clearly didn't have quite the budget of that film the writer (with Derek Haas)-director Mark Brandt ("Wanted", "3:10 To Yuma")does a fine job of staging the action and makes good use of a strong cast that includes Grace, Gere, Martin Sheen, Odette Annable and a solid string of supporting actors.

The Blu-ray comes with a couple of featurettes, commentary track from the director and the theatrical trailer.

Is it sometimes silly? Sure but then almost ALL spy thrillers can be pretty silly and preposterious at times which is WHY you have to suspend your disbelief. Once you get into "The Double" you'll enjoy both the performances and some of the clever twists although it's easy to see why the film went straight to video it also doesn't mean that the film is a complete disaster.

A pretty decent rental.

This turned out to have a very nice twist to it. Some of the scenes were a little too obvious, but over all a very good movie.

THE DOUBLE is a fairly entertaining thriller of the espionage genre that has an interesting idea. Good story: flimsy writing. It is difficult to figure out for a while if this is a good cop/bad cop set up or if this is a throwback to Cold War times. Written by Derek Haas and director Michael Brandt it is less a complex maze of twists and turns that the viewer feels it should be than a mixed salad of CIA, FBI, leftover characters from the Cold War trying to figure out where the film is going.

The film opens with a view of a senator being murdered by a particular manner of cutting the throat that used to be the trademark of some Russian assassins, one in particular named Cassius. But apparently retired CIA operative Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) killed that entire groups of assassins and it takes the intervention of a maverick Harvard grad turned FBI agent Ben Geary (Topher Grace) who did his thesis on Cassius to suggest that Cassius lives and is in Washington DC to kill CIA and FBI agents. Fate pairs Shepherdson and Geary and the hunt begins with many men having their throats cut a la Cassius method until the evidence begins to fall together as to the truth behind it all. Telling more would destroy what little plot the film holds together.

Gere and Grace are both fine if not memorable and they get some assistance form actors such as Martin Sheen, Steven Boyer, Tamer Hassan, and Odette Annable (a refreshing find!). The dialogue is pretty much drowned out by the noisy musical score and the ambient noise of the action. Not a bad movie, just not a memorable one. It could use a bit of tidying up on the editing and the scoring and it might make sense. Grady Harp, February 12

"It's not Cassius...because he's dead." After a senator is murdered all clues point to a former Soviet assassin that CIA agent Paul Shepherdson (Gere) has killed. When he is brought out of retirement and teamed with a young FBI agent Ben Geary (Grace) they must work together to solve the mystery and stop him before he kills again. I should start by saying that this is the type of movie I really like. Murder mysteries that involve the FBI, CIA and politics. I was looking forward to watching this for a while and I was not disappointed at all. There were enough twists in it to keep you guessing and by the end you aren't sure what to think anymore, just like a good movie should leave you. Besides the obvious all-star cast in this the movie is very well written and is very entertaining and fun to watch. Movies that keep you guessing are usually always that way though. I recommend this. Overall, a movie that does not disappoint at all and is very much worth watching. I give it an B+.

The movie was well written, excellent acting and very interesting plot with a surprise ending. If I write more about the movie, I'll give it away. A must see movie!

I won't pretend that I understood everything that was going on, but I do know that I was kept wondering who the spy/double/whoever really was right up till the end. Nice performances and direction.