Having read some of the other comments here, I'm wondering if people saw the same film that I did - because this one is an absolute stinker. The things that made the Talented Mr Ripley (TMR) (1999) so good - acting, location, music, and of course story - have all been abandoned.
To start with the acting, John Malkovich gives a flat performance, with monotonous delivery of (it must be said) bad dialogue. There's no menace in what he's saying - he could almost be reading out a shopping list. There's a scene where he's correcting Reeves for mispronunciation - yet the "corrections" are the American mispronunciations. In TMR, Ripley is an explicitly gay character, unlike in the book - here Malkovich gives a camp performance of a seemingly hetero character.
Dougray Scott fares no better - and what horrible teeth! He tries to nail down a plummy English accent, but for the most part is pretty wide of the mark, coming across as half-Perthshire/half-drama school. And for someone with cancer who is hoping for a miracle cure, why does he smoke so much?
The connection with Reeves (Ray Winstone) and Ripley is never made clear - how did they meet, why are they still acquainted etc. Reeves comes across as a would-be gangster from a cheap Sunday evening drama on a low-budget satellite channel, wholly unconvincing, and spouting dialogue straight from the "How to be a cockney gangster" handbook.
Chiara Caselli as Ripley's love interest is just awful. Her accent wavers between London and Rome, as does her acting ability. Surely employed because she was cheaper than a British/American actress who could do a reasonable attempt at an Italian accent.
As for the locations, like TMR, this takes place in Italy, but where in TMR we had azure skies, panoramic vistas beautifully framed by John Seale, olde worlde streets and beautiful Italian extras, here we have Italian countryside (although who can tell Italian countryside from anywhere else's?), leaden skies, wet streets and Germans. I won't bother comparing the clothes - John Malkovich in a beret, need I say more?!
Gabriel Jared's beautiful score complimented TMR perfectly, delicately highlighting emotion and view. Here we have - apparently, although I refuse to believe it - Ennio Morricone jarring the senses with a repetitive, dull, and frankly non-melodic piece played on, of all things, a harpsichord. There's a reason you don't hear harpsichords in musical scores very often - they sound awful.
And finally the story. Ripley almost plays second fiddle to Reeves in the story, as it seems to be Reeves who does most of the arranging of the murders (some minor plot detail of getting one Balkan country's mafia to start fighting another ex-Soviet mafia leaving Ripley to take over... what?)
It's Dougray Scott's character who is then contracted to do the assassinations, until finally it's all brought back to Ripley's door, by which time you don't care who gets killed.
This is a singularly bad film. The director has no vision or flair for film-making whatsoever, and this is surely a low-point in the careers of all actors concerned. Ennio Morricone should go hang his head in shame for allowing his name to be attached to this project.
Avoid at all costs.
To start with the acting, John Malkovich gives a flat performance, with monotonous delivery of (it must be said) bad dialogue. There's no menace in what he's saying - he could almost be reading out a shopping list. There's a scene where he's correcting Reeves for mispronunciation - yet the "corrections" are the American mispronunciations. In TMR, Ripley is an explicitly gay character, unlike in the book - here Malkovich gives a camp performance of a seemingly hetero character.
Dougray Scott fares no better - and what horrible teeth! He tries to nail down a plummy English accent, but for the most part is pretty wide of the mark, coming across as half-Perthshire/half-drama school. And for someone with cancer who is hoping for a miracle cure, why does he smoke so much?
The connection with Reeves (Ray Winstone) and Ripley is never made clear - how did they meet, why are they still acquainted etc. Reeves comes across as a would-be gangster from a cheap Sunday evening drama on a low-budget satellite channel, wholly unconvincing, and spouting dialogue straight from the "How to be a cockney gangster" handbook.
Chiara Caselli as Ripley's love interest is just awful. Her accent wavers between London and Rome, as does her acting ability. Surely employed because she was cheaper than a British/American actress who could do a reasonable attempt at an Italian accent.
As for the locations, like TMR, this takes place in Italy, but where in TMR we had azure skies, panoramic vistas beautifully framed by John Seale, olde worlde streets and beautiful Italian extras, here we have Italian countryside (although who can tell Italian countryside from anywhere else's?), leaden skies, wet streets and Germans. I won't bother comparing the clothes - John Malkovich in a beret, need I say more?!
Gabriel Jared's beautiful score complimented TMR perfectly, delicately highlighting emotion and view. Here we have - apparently, although I refuse to believe it - Ennio Morricone jarring the senses with a repetitive, dull, and frankly non-melodic piece played on, of all things, a harpsichord. There's a reason you don't hear harpsichords in musical scores very often - they sound awful.
And finally the story. Ripley almost plays second fiddle to Reeves in the story, as it seems to be Reeves who does most of the arranging of the murders (some minor plot detail of getting one Balkan country's mafia to start fighting another ex-Soviet mafia leaving Ripley to take over... what?)
It's Dougray Scott's character who is then contracted to do the assassinations, until finally it's all brought back to Ripley's door, by which time you don't care who gets killed.
This is a singularly bad film. The director has no vision or flair for film-making whatsoever, and this is surely a low-point in the careers of all actors concerned. Ennio Morricone should go hang his head in shame for allowing his name to be attached to this project.
Avoid at all costs.