Sleuth (2007)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Michael Caine, Jude Law. [R]

Update of Anthony Shaffer’s story of macabre brinkmanship depicting dangerous cat-and-mouse mind games played between an aging, wealthy writer and the younger man who’s sleeping with his wife. Caine played the sinister stripling in the original version, takes over for the late Laurence Olivier here; Law assumes the Michael Caine role for the second time (after 2004’s Alfie redo); both strain to find some semblance of biting wit and cold menace in Harold Pinter’s revisions, and overact at times, but mostly emerge unscathed. Despite assurances from the talent on both sides of the camera that this was meant to be a fresh spin on the original play/film, however, it’s really no more than an exercise in style and technique—tilted camera angles, claustrophobic closeups, ultra-modern architecture, etc. Despite the brief running time (approximately fifty minutes shorter than the original adaptation), the gabby narrative still drags, more so in each ensuing act, the alterations to subtext imply traits that simply aren’t there, and the only satisfaction found at the end of the final episode is from the movie being over. Pinter’s final screenplay; he and director Branagh can briefly be spotted in a televised police drama.

42/100