As you probably recognized I'm quite amazed with quotations from the movies which I review. The films are most of the time more talkative than we would think. They are using their lines like thier physical objects: there aren't guns in the films without shooting with them = there aren't sentences which haven't got any meaning or significance. At least the comparision is true according to the classic way of storytelling.
So if I need to find a talkative quotation from Kenneth Branagh's theater-like Sleuth, I would pick the following one:
"The shortest way to a man's heart as I'm sure you know, is humiliation.
It binds you together."
And probably this would or should be enough to tell about this film. Because it's plot has secrets, twists and surprises. A lot, as we might expect from a talented writer called Harold Pinter. [OFF: Does anybody an idea how I could have his other play Betrayal directed by David Hughes Jones? There isn't available with region code 2 at the main ordering sites. ON.] Btw, if you look closer, you will find acting Pinter in the film...
According to the above mentioned twisty plot, this time I won't go any details about the mouse-and-cat story of Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine) and Milo Tindle (Jude Law). Rather telling why I gave (only) 7 points.
If you have a movie like this which has very (very..:) limited characters, you might expect some stunning performances (the screwy story itself working only one time - so the performances need to compensate on that). And you can't, an I bet won't be disappointed with such a professional (theater)actors like Caine and Law. But - and maybe you won't agree with this - I believe that this is the major problem with this film: the acting is so good what you can't stand during 90 minutes. Did you feel in the cinema that somebody made his or her role "too perfect"? I'm talking more about Law than Caine (funny fact: Caine played Law's role in the previous film version of Sleuth in 1972:). I really don't know how to express my problem, perhaps like this way: He is doing theatrical, not cinematical. Hmm, haven't got better explanation, but hopefully got my idea...
Anyway, it's not a waste of time to spend - a bit less than - 90 minutes for this (actually I really loved the brave cinematography and the whole color-palette of art design).
You can call it a benefit-performance, I would call it some kind of home theater. Literally.
7/10
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