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Sleuth
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Editorial Reviews:
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When a bestselling novelist discovers his wife is sleeping with a daring actor the two rivals become immersed in a deadly game of deception lies & revenge. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Jude Law Michael Caine Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R Director: Kenneth Branagh
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Thirty-five years after Michael Caine played the role of crass boy-toy Milo Tindle in Joseph L. Mankiewicz?s screen adaptation of Anthony Shaffer?s hit play Sleuth, the actor takes over his 1972 co-star Laurence Olivier?s role of rich cuckold Andrew Wyke in Kenneth Branagh?s updated remake of the same story. Where Olivier brought a seething, upper-class disgust to mystery-novelist Wyke?s attitude toward Tindle--who is having an affair with the former?s wife and has come to the writer?s mansion to request that Wyke divorce her--Caine basks in the comic absurdity of a superficial man like Tindle (Jude Law) led by the nose into one or another illusion of happiness. The new film?s script by Harold Pinter has the arid air of expectation familiar to his work, the weight of things not said whenever someone speaks. That?s a considerable weight indeed, in Sleuth?s story of a psychological contest between two very different men who despise one another beneath outward civility.
The story finds Tindle arriving at Wyke?s home. Following various small humiliations, he is invited by the older man to steal his wife?s jewels in a scheme that benefits everyone. There?s more than meets the eye to Wyke?s proposal, however, leading to unexpected developments and surprises in the film?s second half. Branagh?s direction is suitably cool and sleek in the beginning, when the characters? emotions are still in check and the oddness of Wyke?s gadget-filled world is still entertaining to behold. (The film?s set design is one of its strongest elements.) But once voices rise and threats appear and the like, Branagh can?t seem to penetrate the surface of things. Unlike Mankiewicz?s take, the new version is caught up in the insularity of the characters? tit-for-tat gamesmanship, lacking the intriguing, class-warfare subtext of the earlier work. A gay angle thrown into the last half-hour sits uncomfortably and irrelevantly with the rest of the material. The best thing about this Sleuth are the performances of Law and Caine, who could have been even better with a great script. --Tom KeoghStills from Sleuth (click for larger image) Beyond Sleuth 
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Sleuth
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User Comments About Sleuth
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A mixed bag, but worth seeing
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It's a very talky movie, and the gay angle towards the end is just weird. See it.
The Harold Pinter script is clever at times, but the end is ambiguous. There's a lot of witty banter.
Jude Law's double role as the Scotland Yard inspector is worth the whole movie. Watch it for that, if nothing more.
It's like a play because it's based on one. Who is in charge is the movie's central plot theme.
Michael Caine is great, as usual.
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker. Kenneth Branagh, whose visual stylings are reminiscent of Orson Welles, directed the drama in such a manner that one is mesmerized, even though you are familiar with the play and know it's gimmick. Screenwriter Harold Pinter follows the general plot outline of Shaffer's play, but the smart, witty dialogue is all his and he also does a major re-working of the third act that, once again, may be different from the original, but I'm not sure if it's any better. Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine were the stars of the original picture. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
What begins as a genteel conversation quickly escalates into a potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse where one cannot tell what is real and what isn't. In this version, Caine assumes the Olivier role and Jude Law takes on the part Caine played in 1972. This remake of the 1972 filming of Anthony Shaffer's 2-person stage play is as good as the original, just different. Shadow Watcher. Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake.
© Michael B. The play is set in best-selling author Caine's isolated English manor house where hairdresser/aspiring actor Law comes to discuss Michael's wife, the woman both are bedding. Caine and Law are both at the top of their game.
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Truly a brilliant performance by both men. O.k so these are two brilliant and skillful leads.BUT what a performance. It had me on the edge of my seat both with suspense and uncontrollabe laughter. It's amazing the way the seemed to switch roles as the plot thickened. sort of like an elevated form of Daffy vs Bugs bunny.
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" I look at this movie in a different way. Now its video tech. Jude Law was a producer on the film. How can you remake something. It was a play and that was dialog. If you watch both films, and just watch you may see humor in the contrasts. Possibly it was a slip or intended that the hairdresser was an actor was a hairdresser.
This film left me with questions. There is context and distraction from the vantage of new technology that interlaces the film. Maybe not. It may be overstated.
It wasn't "wow, I want to see that again. Maybe it is just different. He has been compared with Micheal Caine. Hey "Alfie".
Jude law could have been more subtle, and let me process this situation more. Micheal Caine at his worst is always good. There are a number of reviews here and I am in the middle.
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I wasn't aware of the original. Almost "clever", but fails miserably at the end, huge let down.
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