Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Michael Caine, Jude Law, Harold Pinter | Written by Harold Pinter & Anthony Shaffer
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 86 minutes | Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Up until now, I've been fairly indifferent to Jude Law. I thought he was OK in Gattaca and A.I, and didn't mind him too much in The Talented Mr Ripley, Road to Perdition or I Heart Huckabees. I've neither liked Jude Law, nor disliked him. Until now.
If Jude Law had been sitting on the couch beside me as I watched Sleuth, I would have beaten him to a bloody pulp with a crowbar. If I was so inclined, I would find out where he lives and burn his house down. With him inside it. Yes, after seeing the steaming pile of utter shite that is Sleuth, I now hate Jude Law that much. In my ever-so-humble opinion, Law has about as much acting talent as a goldfish. On steroids. And the thing that's most maddening is that Sleuth could have been a decent film. The 1972 original, from what I can remember of it (I've only seen it the once, a long time ago) was a fairly decent little two-handed thriller that starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. The remake sticks to pretty much the same plot — snobbish, wealthy mystery writer Andrew Wyke (Caine, now in the Olivier role) has lost his wife to wannabe actor Milo Tindle (Law, in the role that Caine played in the original). Wyke invites Tindle to his country pile for a bit of a chat about what to do with wifey. Wyke makes him an offer — keep the wife, but first Tindle has to break into the house and steal some jewels. For the insurance, you understand. And thus begins the mind games and wordplay between the two men that dominate the rest of the film
The film itself is not totally awful. Much has been made of the steel, concrete and glass mansion that is the scene for all the action. I thought the production design was amazing — some critics say the house seems too cold and sterile to live in, but I think that it says a lot about Caine's character and adds much to his performance. Speaking of which, Caine's performance, as always, is perfect — charming, clever and he seems to relish playing the upper-class swine who has the upper hand. Branagh's direction, too, is sturdy and workmanlike, making good use of the space (his direction in this is very theatrical) and having fun with interesting camera angles and moves. Pinter's dialogue, too, is what you'd expect from Pinter — dry, witty and full of verbal jousting.
The one, overriding flaw in the film (and, my God, it's a big one) is Law, who plays his role as though he's in a Christmas panto. He sucks all the potential pleasure out of the film completely. His performance is so bad it makes you wonder if the guy has ever acted before in his life. It's excrutiatingly painful to watch, and has put me off wanting to see Jude Law in a movie again. Ever.
EXTRAS ** There are two audio commentaries — one with Branagh and Caine, the other with Law. Why didn't the three of them do one together? Did Branagh and Caine refuse to be in the same room with law? I guess we will never know. You also get three featurettes: Sleuth On Set; A Game of Cat & Mouse, Behind The Scenes of Sleuth; and Inspector Black Make-up Secrets Revealed. And at no point do the writer, director, producers or any of the actors apologise for this mess of a movie.