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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
6/04, 2/26
2/26:
People can praise The Talented Mr. Ripley all they want, but I'm not impressed with it.
There's a superior film called Plein soleil. Compare
both, and you'll find the original to be superior in all aspects. Plus, it's shorter by 24 minutes and gets
to the point quickly with less characters involved. As a result, Alain Delon became an international superstar,
and Henri Decaë's cinematography was mind-blowing. However, I must say Philip Seymour Hoffman is a
huge improvement over Billy Kearns in the role of Freddie Miles.
As Tom Ripley, Matt Damon's performance bothers me. There's so much inconsistency. Obviously, he tried
too hard to be a dork at the beginning. Whenever he's alone, he still maintains that but, over time, grows
suave and too cool for people. There are scenes of him moving around normally and seeing things fine without
eyeglasses.
The other problem is that there's no way Matt Damon's character would've been accepted by Dickie Greenleaf.
He's too clumsy to pass the test. Yes, personality and reputation do matter among the elites. Tom Ripley said
that he attended Princeton University? Bullshit. It's really a small world where everybody knows each other.
In Plein soleil, Alain Delon never changed anything from start
to finish and was a very cool, if weird at times, guy who happened to be much better-looking than Maurice
Ronet. This probably played the biggest role of being accepted without any claim about previous associations.
Anthony Minghella trying to force me to accept Matt Damon as Jude Law's equal doesn't work unless he drops
all of the fake acting by being himself.
Despite receiving an Oscar nomination, Jude Law overacts constantly and seems to have a severe case of ADHD,
but Maurice Ronet kept that to a minimum in the other film although they did look alike. At least, Jude Law
was a good find because he starred in Immortality, which was produced
by Anthony Minghella's wife, and had been recommended by her after watching the daily rushes. A better
performance by him can be found in Gattaca.
Forget Gwyneth Paltrow. She's hopeless and has nothing on Marie Laforêt. After doing a couple of scenes, I
immediately flashbacked to Seven and
A Perfect Murder. At that point, Gwyneth Paltrow might as well
acquire a new nickname: "Same Thing."
The cinematography helps to mask the deficiencies with no rip-offs from the original film. When Anthony
Minghella added more characters to the mix, I began to yawn. The inclusion of Cate Blanchett is a
mistake; her character was never in the book. Ditto for Jack Davenport. Repeating many shots, such as
the stuff with jazz, needlessly prolongs the film.
All in all, although much more faithful to the book by Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
is artificial while Plein soleil is effortless.