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The Talented Mr. RipleyRating:
Release Date: 01 March, 2004 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $9.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
The Talented Mr. Ripley Reviews
"I feel like I've been handed a new life."
What makes `The Talented Mr. Ripley' stand apart from most other thrillers is that it's ultimately an extremely smart film. Not only is the cast superb but the script is brilliant, and that is due to the amazing novel written by Patricia Highsmith in which the film was based. Set during the 1950's, the film follows Tom Ripley (played with every bit of underlying menace by Matt Damon) as he enters a new life, a life he could only dream about having as his own.
The film starts with Tom, a con-artist, borrowing a Princeton jacket during a Manhattan garden party to play the piano for guests, and he inadvertently strikes up a conversation with an older gentleman who's seeking someone to retrieve his son from Italy. He offers $1,000 and so Tom plays along, claiming to know this mans son and agrees to fetch his son from his debaucheries life. Upon arriving in Italy Tom immediately becomes absorbed in the lifestyle this man, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law in his finest hour), is living. He attaches himself, to the point of annoyance, to both Dickie and his fiancée Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). This attachment that borderlines obsession finally climaxes in Dickie claiming Tom should leave, go back to the states.
He's boring.
And with those words Tom kills the man he loves in a fit of rage, and in an attempt to cover it up he assumes the identity of the man he murdered and from that point on the film changes pace to that of a cat and mouse tail and Tom switches between playing a role and living a life. To cover his tracks Tom tells Marge that Dickie was scared off by her pressure to commit himself in marriage and thus has fled the country. She doesn't believe it for one minute and she starts to put pieces together, realizing that this man is not the kind hearted fellow he claims to be. As Tom starts a relationship with a wealthy woman under the alias of Dickie Greenleaf, yet falls in and out of contact with Marge and fellow friends of Dickie who know Tom he has to keep changing his identity and forging letters and his voice in order to stay ahead of the game.
Brilliantly crafted, like a fine sculpture, each frame fits together beautifully and creates a piece of art like none other. The acting is astonishing, most notably by the two male leads, Jude and Matt. I will say that I am not a Matt Damon fan, and actually other than this film I feel he's a wasted talent, but here he exuberates every emotion that makes up this madman he embodies. We feel every emotion that he needs and wants us to feel. He is pitch-perfect. Same with Law, who plays the playboy type brilliantly. His constant growing annoyance with Tom is seen all over his face. In scenes like when he walks in on Tom wearing his clothing or when Tom asks him if they could share a bath, Jude's face says more than his words ever could.
Gwyneth was another delight, as the confused and suspicious fiancée of the deceased she plays the misunderstood yet defiantly insistent card brilliantly, convincing you that she's either 1) crazy or 2) right on the money.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kate Blanchett both have very small roles, but there roles are strong none the less, and they deliver each line effortlessly. This was my first glimpse at Hoffman and I'm almost tempted to say he deserved that Oscar nod over Law only because he was PERFECT in the few moments he graced the screen. My favorite scene in the film involves Hoffman's character catching Tom in the act of watching Marge and Dickie make love on their boat. "Tommy, Tommy, are you peeping Tommy?" It's brilliant.
So I've praised this movie quite a bit and I hope that my review has helped convince you to 1) see this movie if you haven't already or 2) if you have seen it and can't decide whether or not to purchase it, maybe this review helped remind you how purchase worthy a film like this really is. Kudos to everyone involved, from the brilliant acting already raved about to the wonderful direction Anthony Minghella took while making this exceptionally extraordinary film.
Pure cinematic brilliance!
Brilliant thriller
Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a talented but penniless young man, pretends to be a graduate of an elite school while playing piano at an upper-class garden party. When he is asked to go to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), the playboy son of a shipping magnate, to return to America, he sees an opportunity to taste the kind of high life that he has always dreamed of. In Italy, he continues his pretense in order to ingratiate himself with Dickie and his fiancee, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). He becomes infatuated with Dickie and his lifestyle; his desperation to continue this idyllic new life leads him to increasingly desperate measures, ultimately including murder and the complex juggling of identities.
One of the many pleasures of this excellent film is watching the evolution of Ripley's character. In the beginning, he is likeable. As his situation deteriorates, we see his horror and panic as he commits crimes he had never anticipated. We also see his dawning belief, powerfully dramatized at the end, that he can never go back to a time of innocence; he can only go forward, which means maintaining his deception at all costs. It's a tribute to Damon's performance.
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