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