The Talented Mr Ripley

This movie is up for several Oscars: Jude Law in Best Supporting Actor; Best Art Direction; Best Costume Design; Best Original Score and Best Screenplay (Adaptation), so it's with a certain sense of anticipation that you sit down to watch it. With that many nominations (although none in the really prestigous categories), one would expect something pretty special from the movie. That's exactly what you get, too; this film is pretty special in a lot of ways.

Set in the 1930s, Matt Damon (who for my money is the most talented young actor in Hollywood today) stars as the eponymous Mr Ripley, a con man of the first order who has a lucky break when an American shipping magnate asks him to go on a well-paid mission to Italy to return his wayward son, Dickie, to America, thinking that Ripley and his son were friends in Princeton.

On arrival in Italy, Ripley makes contact with Dickie (Jude Law) and his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), tells them of his mission and ingratiates himself into their lives, arranging to fool the rich father into continuing to send money. It's as this occurs that we begin to suspect that there's something dubious about Ripley's feelings towards Dickie... However, it takes until halfway through for matters to come to a head. Once they do, the film becomes MUCH more interesting, with Ripley gradually digging himself into a hole, and generally weaving a web of deceit, lies and murder around himself.

Through it all, Ripley remains a highly likeable character; he is clever, always one step ahead of the game, but yet at the same time, he is emotionally vulnerable, and ultimately, there is something deeply disturbed about him. However, the director doesn't seem to know what to do with this wonderful character; for the first half of the film, he concentrates solely on his character, and not a lot really happens, which is deeply unsatisfying. There is a sudden change of heart midway, as the movie tries to fit in a novels-worth of plot twists and turns into the remainder of the movie, many of which are confusing in their speed and will leave the audience wondering what is going on.

The ending of the movie is deeply unsatisfactory; just when you think the story has reached an ending, the director decides to heap yet another twist onto the end, giving another 10 minutes to the already bloated running time of the film, and making the final scenes more "moral", in showing Ripley as a soul tortured by his actions, rather than a happy con artist. To my mind, this silly moralising at the end of a movie is what you expect of Pokemon or Power Rangers, not a serious story like this one.

This isn't to say that the film doesn't entertain. Many scenes are very tense, and on several occasions the audience is led up the garden path of suspense, only to be relieved at the last minute. There is also some delightful humour in parts, and it is a shame that more was not made of this angle. If you keep your thinking cap on, the character of Tom Ripley will have you thinking a lot after this movie; there are hidden depths to him, and to his internal struggles, which could be endlessly analysed.

Special note deserves to go to the music; although classical, opera and jazz isn't my style, I must say that its use in the movie is stunning. Different styles of music indicate swings in mood in the movie, and music is often used to lead into scenes. As an integral part of the film as opposed to an afterthought as in so many movies, the music is outstanding, and could well be quite a contender for the Oscar in this category.

In conclusion, The Talented Mr Ripley is a movie which is guilty of the crime of poor pacing; but aside from that, there is a lot to enjoy here.

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[EED]Shinji -=*=- shinji@electricdeath.com
Site Editor, http://www.utsystem.co.uk