Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top rate crime drama, January 11, 2001
One has to suspect that any film starring and produced by Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman is going to be good. That assumption would not lead to disappointment in this case. This is a terrific psychological crime drama with an excellent story, great acting and powerful directing. Henry Hearst (Gene Hackman) is a prominent and wealthy citizen of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who found the body of a young girl who had been murdered. Police captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) is a long time friend of Hearst's and asks him to come down to the station answer some questions and tie up some lose ends. What ensues is a blistering interrogation where it is clear that Hearst is the prime suspect. The script is smart, probing and full of nuance. Subtle hints in both directions make us continually re-evaluate Hearst's guilt or innocence as the interrogation twists and turns. The ending is a surprise and quite abstruse, requiring some reflection to fathom. Stephen Hopkins' (Lost In Space) direction is fabulous. The camerawork is excellent, using various perspectives and jump cuts to lend power to the dialogue. I would have liked to see more character development of Captain Benezet to understand his obsessive motivation of trying to nail Hearst. Also, it seems a bit incongruous to have this set in Puerto Rico and have so many obviously American characters. Nonetheless, the work by Hopkins is first-rate overall. The acting is superb. Morgan Freeman gives a brilliant performance, worthy of an Oscar nomination in my opinion. His dogged pursuit of Hearst never lets up as he is slowly eaten alive by his fixation with proving Hearst is the murderer. Hackman's performance is equally outstanding. His is the most complex and mentally tortured character in the film, and he portrays Hearst like a rat on an electric grid. Italian star Monica Belucci is mysterious and lovely as Hearst's suspicious wife in one of her few American films. The only mediocre performance comes from Thomas Jane as the detective. He is unable to match the rhythm and intensity of the rest of the cast. This part probably should have gone to a Hispanic actor in keeping with the setting. This intense and clever film keeps the audience guessing throughout. I rated it a 9/10. It is an entertaining film for the thinking viewer.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping crime thriller is a wonderful midnight movie, May 31, 2001
There are certain films that are so quiet and intense that they demand to be watched in the middle of night. After the hustle and activity of the day is finished this intense crime thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman can be enjoyed. Hackman plays a wealthy Puerto Rico lawyer who is questioned by old friend Freeman about a corpse that he discovered. As Hackman's story changes, Freeman probes deeper and deeper into Hackman's private life trying to discover whether or not his friend is a murderer. This movie grabs the viewer from the opening titles and takes you breathlessly through the story without graphic violence and only slight sexuality. It does so on the sheer power of the performances and the story. This is a complex thriller that is truly in the Hitchcock tradition.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two old pros conjure a masterpiece of misdirection, January 30, 2001
Puerto Rico is the unlikely setting for UNDER SUSPICION, a who-done-it that's essentially a stage spotlighted for two of America's finest actors, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. The latter plays a police captain, Victor Benezet, investigating the recent rape and murder of two young girls. Hackman plays lawyer Henry Hearst, Victor's erstwhile friend, and now the prime suspect. This film features less of Hollywood's usual recipe of thrills, and focuses more on the personalities of the two principals as they verbally spar back and forth as Benezet attempts to close the case. Thomas Jane plays a young homicide detective who'd rather beat a confession out of Hearst than obtain one through the finesse of interrogation. The magnificently sensual actress, Monica Bellucci, plays Hearst's much younger wife Chantal, icily unavailable to his physical affections after deciding that he was having an affair with her teenage niece. Or was he? The duel begins when Benezet requests that Hearst stop by the police station to answer a few minor questions. After all, it'll only take ten minutes or so, and Hearst will not be delayed attending a charity fund-raising dinner across the street, at which he is to give the main toast at the behest of Benezet's boss, the police Superintendent. Talk about pressure to get on with it. Initially, the plot seems nothing more than a revamped COLUMBO script, as a weary police officer tries to winkle a confession out of a canny adversary. But, it's more than that, even beyond watching these two old pros, Hackman and Freeman, display their acting skills. As Hearst recounts his alibis, which are portrayed to the viewer as flashbacks, the director inserts the Benezet character into those scenes, as if he were physically present, allowing him to ask more questions of Hearst as his alibi unfolds. This is an ingeniously clever effect that I've not seen in any film previous. And then there's the stunning beauty of Bellucci as she plays Hearst's Ice Queen. Wow! (Yeah, I know, mine is a guy fascination, just like in Monica's splendid Y2K film MALENA.) The ending is totally unexpected. ("Huh? Say, what!"). And, profoundly sad, if one considers the ties that continue to bind in a love relationship gone sour.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
