in times of crisis people are driven to desperate measures .
of course what constitutes a crisis differs from person to person .
what may be a disastrous situation for one , may be seen as a challenge to another .
as deepak chopra is known to say , ” it’s not the ride , it’s the rider . ”
unfortunately clear-thinking is not always the reaction to problems .
wall street wheeler dealer steven taylor ( michael douglas ) is a man with troubles .
he’s sunk his money in illegal financial activities and it’s blown up in his face .
in a matter of days he will lose it all .
his wife emily ( gwyneth paltrow ) is a highly-placed un interpreter and is not happy with her life either .
her marriage is cold and unfulfilling .
unknown to her , her new lover david shaw ( viggo mortensen ) is not only a painter , but an ex-con with a history of bilking wealthy women of their money .
emily is a prime target : she’s worth over $100 million .
steven’s solution to his predicament is to offer david half a million to kill his wife .
the artist accepts and the movie is underway .
drawing from frederick knott’s play and loosely based on hitchcock’s dial m for murder , this is all-too typical of summer releases .
all style and no substance .
and there’s really not much style .
director andrew davis ( the accomplished witness and best-forgotten other films ) has made exactly the wrong choices at almost every turn .
douglas and paltrow have both shown us that they are skillful actors in previous films .
mortensen showed promise in the past .
here all three are walking uninterestingly through their roles with oddly waxen faces .
the only person who shows any sense of life is david suchet as new york detective mohamed karaman .
he’s only on-screen long enough to make you think that there might be a likable person in the film and then he disappears .
the first concern of a suspense film is to create suspense .
surprises are important .
in this movie the audience keeps waiting for something to happen .
and nothing ever does .
nearly every event is telegraphed in advance .
close-up on this object or that action and it’s easy to guess what’s going to happen .
as the film plods towards its inevitable conclusion you keep expecting a plot twist to make the movie worthwhile .
it’s a hopeless quest .
the story doesn’t make much sense .
steven’s wife is loaded .
even with unfriendly relations , you’d think that he could have talked to her about his difficulty rather than deciding to kill her .
when he does decide on the dire plan he makes an unreasonable choice .
if you were going to hire someone to kill your wife , would your first choice be her lover ?
no matter how sleazy he is , i would think there might be a chance that he would turn down the opportunity .
why would steven plan the murder as a break-in in their apartment ?
why not just take her out as she was walking to david’s loft in a bad neighborhood ?
while deciding among the numerous summer films , you might do well to skip this one .
you’ll find more suspense than this movie offers by watching the weather channel .