Product Description
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Directed by critically-accled director Kenneth
Branagh, Jude Law and two-time O-winner Michael Caine (1987,
Best Supporting Actor, Hannah and Her Sisters; 2000, Best
Supporting Actor, Cider House Rules) join forces in this
sharp-witted, modern adaptation of the 1972 classic, Sleuth.
Locked in a high-tech English manor, bound in a deadly duel of
wits, Andrew Wyke (Caine) and Milo Tindle (Law) come together as
English gentlemen to discuss the matter of Wyke's wife: the woman
both are ing with. But as wit becomes wicked and clever
becomes cutthroat, Wyke and Tindle's game of one-upmanship
spirals out of control, in an escalating chess match that can
have only one outcome: murder.
.com
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Thirty-five years after Michael Caine played the role of
crass boy-toy Milo Tindle in Joseph L. Mankiewiczs screen
adaptation of Anthony Shaffers hit play Sleuth, the actor takes
over his 1972 co-star Laurence Oliviers role of rich cuckold
Andrew Wyke in Kenneth Branaghs updated remake of the same
story. Where Olivier brought a seething, upper-class disgust to
mystery-novelist Wykes attitude toward Tindle--who is having an
affair with the formers wife and has come to the writers
mansion to request that Wyke divorce her--Caine basks in the
comic absurdity of a superficial man like Tindle (Jude Law) led
by the nose into one or another illusion of happiness. The new
films script by Harold Pinter has the arid air of expectation
familiar to his work, the weight of things not said whenever
someone speaks. Thats a considerable weight indeed, in Sleuths
story of a psychological contest between two very different men
who despise one another beneath outward civility.
The story finds Tindle arriving at Wykes home. Following
various small humiliations, he is invited by the older man to
steal his wifes jewels in a scheme that benefits everyone.
Theres more than meets the eye to Wykes proposal, however,
leading to unexpected developments and surprises in the films
second half. Branaghs direction is suitably cool and sleek in
the beginning, when the characters emotions are still in check
and the oddness of Wykes gadget-filled world is still
entertaining to behold. (The films set design is one of its
strongest elements.) But once voices rise and threats appear and
the like, Branagh cant seem to penetrate the surface of things.
Unlike Mankiewiczs take, the new version is caught up in the
insularity of the characters tit-for-tat gamesmanship, lacking
the intriguing, class-warfare subtext of the earlier work. A gay
angle thrown into the last half-hour sits uncomfortably and
irrelevantly with the rest of the material. The best thing about
this Sleuth are the performances of Law and Caine, who could have
been even better with a great script. --Tom Keogh
Stills from Sleuth (click for larger image)
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Beyond Sleuth ( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/W/WEBP_402378-T2/images/G/01/dvd/sony/Sleuth/Sleuth_6lg.jpg )
On DVD ( /gp/product/B001221DU6/ref=d_ap_Sleuth_1 )
Audio CD ( /gp/product/B000VS6P0U/ref=d_ap_Sleuth_2 )