Wednesday 10 February 2010

Film Review: DUPLICITY (2009)


Writer/Director: Tony Gilroy
Running time: 115 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 12

Watched on Sky+ Wednesday 10th February 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I’m not usually a great fan of films starring Clive Owen, but in this case I’ve had to make an exception. He’s as witty and charming as he usually is, but this time, playing opposite Julia Roberts he appears to have finally learned how to act. In all the other roles I’ve seen him in before he’s never really struck me as a leading man, but in this film I think he’s cracked it! But enough about him, let’s talk about the film as a whole.

Howard Tully and Richard Garsik are two big businessmen, and as such are very careful with their sensitive industrial secrets. To this end they employ teams of industrial spies to keep tabs on each other. Ray Koval is working for British Intelligence when he meets Claire Stenwick, who is working for the CIA at the time. After a bit of a false start they eventually hit it off and hatch a plan to get rich. They will go into the private sector with the idea of ripping off some rich businessmen. To this end Claire is employed by Garsik and sent to spy on Tully, later on, Ray is also employed by Garsik, but by now doesn’t know whether he can still trust Claire. With me so far? We are told that Tully is about to announce a new major product and Garsik wants to steal it. Claire and Ray also want to steal it, but do they trust each other? Just who can you trust in this twisted game? I guess you’ll have to watch the movie to find out…

I was pleasantly surprised by this film; I found it very entertaining with some really good performances. I liked the style of the film, the story is told partly in flashback, which really helped in keeping the story fresh. In each flashback a little bit more was revealed about out two main protagonists. I thought it was an excellent performance from Clive Owen as Ray Koval, and Julia Roberts was easily his equal as Claire Stenwick. I also very much enjoyed the performances of Tom Wilkinson as Howard Tully and Paul Giamatti as Richard Garsik, both really pulled all the stops out!

Over all, a very entertaining crime thriller with more than a hint of romance thrown in on the side. A very enjoyable way to while away a couple of hours and a film I can heartily recommend.

My score: 7.5/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/
Official Site: http://www.duplicitymovie.net/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3650552601/

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