Hola all. Massawyrm here.

One look at Sleuth and one might find his interest quite piqued. Michael Caine. Jude Law. In a play adapted for the screen by Kenneth Branagh. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot actually. Sadly Sleuth proves to be a fun exercise that starts off great but slowly fades into disappointment. And there's really not much to say about it.

From the get go it is clear that they are making no attempt to disguise the fact that this is adapted from the stage. It has the banter and rhythm of the stage and the blocking and performances scream a night at the theatre. But at first it is a delightful night at the theatre. Caine, who starred in the original opposite Sir Laurence Olivier, now plays the Olivier role, with Jude Law once again stepping into Caine's shoes. And the dynamic is very different than the original right from the get go. Caine is no Olivier and Law is no Caine. Not to say these two aren't incredible actors – they are just very different actors than those they are replacing. Young Michael Caine didn't have the pretty boy fragility that Law demonstrates – he was a MAN. Capital M, Capital A Capital N. MAN. There was a time that his sweat alone could cure sterility. And Olivier had this almost otherworldly sense of distinction, as if no matter how much money you had, no matter your station in life, he was so much higher in the pecking order than you could ever be. Caine just doesn't emanate that. The result is a film that is walking through many of the same footsteps but with a different bounce to it.

The first act is incredible. It is Jude Law and Michael Caine alone in front of the camera doing what they do best – acting the living hell out of this script. It's a tense, taut 30 or so minutes that hits every beat just right. The dialog is telling, razor sharp and seems to be setting up to something really incredible. Then there is a clear delineation between the first and second acts – which is where a certain segment of the audience begins to wane. There is an illusion that you either buy hook, line and sinker, or you don't. And from everyone I talked to afterwards, the enjoyment of the second act hinged entirely on how much you bought into that illusion. Personally, I was snowed. I bought into it and really had a ball with the second act. And then there was another line of demarcation. And thus came Act Three.

And nobody seemed to like Act 3. The film, having built up to a climax of two characters butting heads actually openly discusses the promise of the third act – but there is nothing that even remotely comes close to acts One or Two. And once the final scenes play out and the final line has been uttered the audience is left to cock their head, furrow their brow and mutter "That's it? Really?" The conclusion never comes close to achieving a lick of potential that the film has, nor does the ending do justice to the original. It ends abruptly, rather unsatisfyingly, and despite its rather brisk 85 minute running time, the film drags all the way through its final portion. There isn't any one thing that goes wrong at this point. It just all seems to unravel right in front of you.

Ultimately it's a disappointment, but not a huge disappointment. If you're a diehard fan of either Caine or Law it's worth seeing for their performances. Neither is sleepwalking here, and they both are in top form. In fact Law is really given more of a chance to stretch his chops than he's been given in years. But unless you're a performance-hound, this film really has little to offer. And if the closest you ever come to a stage is the main stage at your local strip club, this film is going to torment you from minute one. This really is a play put on film. Sadly, it's just not a very good one.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

Massawyrm

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