At first glance, Sleuth might be seen as a remake of the 1972 thriller starring Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier, and indeed, it's based on the same Anthony Shaffer play about a crime novelist who gets into a battle of wits with his wife's younger lover. 35 years later, Caine is back playing the Olivier role of the crime novelist in this new adaptation written by Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. Replacing Caine in the younger role is Jude Law, who also produced this film while trying to avoid the remake curse that Law suffered when he attempted to revive Caine's famed role as Alfie.

As you watch this film, which is staged very much like a play, it's hard not to feel as if you're watching "Dueling Alfies." Like the recent remake of Theo van Gogh's Interview, this is a two-hander featuring a face-off between two strong British actors with Law playing actor Milo Tindle, who arrives at the luxurious mansion of millionaire crime novelist Andrew Wyke (Caine), where we learn that Milo as been sleeping with Wyke's wife. Wyke convinces Milo to break into the mansion and steal jewels in order to finance their affair, but the shrewd author has other plans for the younger man. A few nights later, a detective turns up at Wyke's doorstep looking into the murder of Tindle, but things aren't exactly what they seem and from there, things don't go completely the way some might expect either.

On the one hand, it's fun to watch two generations of British actor tackling this strong material, but it's staged far more like a play than a movie, and it's predictable, even if
you've never seen either of the originals. Branagh has created an amazing stage for this duel of wits and wills, an enormous mansion fitted with the wildest of gadgets and secret rooms, all controlled by a tiny remote in Wyke's hand, and a lot of times, this amazing set is more interesting than the players.

That said, Caine is excellent and his performance drives the movie, because he's obviously the stronger actor of the two, and Law only really impresses with his turn as a third character, which shows that the actor has far more range than previous roles have given him the opportunity to show.

The film is so dialogue-driven that it gets dull at times, especially due to the way it's staged so simply, and when it does break away like when Milo breaks into the mansion with the help of Wyke's manipulation, it gets dragged down by overacting, particularly on Law's part. Not that Caine is immune to the desire to go off on a silly rant or two. By the third act, the relationship between the two men has started to get a bit too strange and it's likely to lose anyone who has been able to get through the first two sections.

Generally, this is a good not great two-person crime drama, but coming so shortly after Steve Buscemi's far more effective Interview, it's that much more obvious how flawed it is.

Rating: 6/10

Sleuth opens in select cities on October 12.

Woody Allen is back in Match Point mode for his third film set in England, this one involving two brothers, Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell), who work at their father's restaurant, but who want more. Their streak of luck hits a downturn, and when they get involved in a murder plot, they finally have a chance to get enough money to pay off their debts and get their heart's desire.

The brothers' run of luck begins with the purchase of a boat, dubbed "Cassandra's Dream", a plot device that will be completely forgotten until the end of the movie, as will a few other developments which are accidental red herrings that have little to do with the story. Both men eventually are hit with problems that require money--Terry's gambling and Ian's sexy but expensive actress girlfriend--convincing them to go to their uncle (Tom Wilkinson) for help. He agrees to give them money if they help him get rid of someone who plans to testify against him in court.

At times, it feels like Allen is coming up with the plot as he goes along, because like in Match Point, the story is all over the place and there are way too many unnecessary scenes and developments. Far too much movie time passes in very little real time, so one minute things are going well for the brothers, the next everything's gone wrong, and then things are fine again. At a certain point, it becomes obvious where things are going, and once it does, the rest of the movie becomes fairly predictable.

There's just way too many developments and way too much exposition about these developments, so that at least 50% of the dialogue is superfluous. Most of the movie involves people talking either about what they did, what they're doing or what they plan to do. It's not like the dialogue is on a par with Allen's best, because he's not using his own voice (or accent for that matter). The tone of the movie plays very much like a soap opera or given the accents, "Woody Allen Does Eastenders."

Some of the other problems I had with Match Point have been resolved by the higher caliber of actor in McGregor and Farrell, who are convincing as the brothers. (Not sure if having Farrell playing an alcoholic will help avoid knowing guffaws.) Their scenes with Wilkinson as they plot the murder are laughably bad though, because they sound badly half-improvised, and a few lines sound like they were nearly botched. Allen probably should have done another couple takes of these scenes, because their arguments about murdering someone come across as so silly that it greatly takes away from any credibility the movie had built up so far.

It's great that Allen has replaced the canned classical music of Match Point with a minimal score from Phillip Glass. It's not nearly as overpowering as his score for Notes on a Scandal, but it's not nearly as effective at creating any sort of tension or suspense either, and one would think that would be mandatory for a thriller like this. The film's resolution is the biggest let-down, maybe because the fate of the brothers happens off-screen, much like their victim earlier in the movie, but overall, this is another huge disappointment for the pile from a filmmaker who used to be one of New York's finest. Hopefully, Allen has finally gotten the UK out of his system with his latest substandard film, and he'll eventually get back to making the comedies which he does so adeptly.

Rating: 5/10

Cassandra's Dream opens on November 30.