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Sleuth

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Sleuth (2007)

36%
34%
55%
N/A
N/A
N/A
36 %
Reviews Counted: 112 Fresh: 40  Rotten:72 Average Rating: 5.1/10
 
Consensus: Sleuth is so obvious and coarse, rather than suspenseful and action-packed, that it does nothing to improve on the original version
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 86 mins

Theatrical Release: Oct 12, 2007 Limited

Box Office: $205,005

Synopsis: In 1972, Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine starred in the screen adaptation of SLEUTH, based on Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Olivier played Andrew Wyke, a droll old writer whose wife is having an affair with the young, ambitious Milo... In 1972, Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine starred in the screen adaptation of SLEUTH, based on Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Olivier played Andrew Wyke, a droll old writer whose wife is having an affair with the young, ambitious Milo Tindle, played by Caine. Thirty-five years later, Caine is starring as Wyke in an updated version of SLEUTH, completely rewritten by Nobel Prizewinner Harold Pinter and directed by multiple Oscar nominee Kenneth Branagh. Jude Law, who played the Michael Caine role in the 2004 remake of ALFIE, now takes over as Tindle, a hairdresser-actor who has shown up at Wyke's estate to demand that Wyke divorce his wife so Tindle can marry her. But the extremely successful and wealthy Wyke is not about to give up his wife without a very determined and well-calculated battle of wits. Wyke lives by himself in a home that features dozens of electronic gadgets and odd contraptions, forcing Tindle to always be on the lookout for something strange to happen. The cat-and-mouse game continues as Tindle and Wyke play mind games with each other in a thrilling contest of one-upsmanship that soon involves a gun. Caine is marvelous as Wyke, strutting through his home with the absolute confidence that he will get the best of Tindle, but Law, who is also one of the film's producers, holds up his end of the drama, giving as good as he gets. Branagh keeps a steady hand as director, not allowing the camera to get in the way of the two dueling characters, but Tim Harvey's unusual production design nearly steals the show. [More]

Genre: Thriller, Murder, Theatrical Release, Remake

Starring: Michael Caine, Jude Law

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Screenwriter: Harold Pinter
Producer: Jude Law, Simon Halfon, Tom Sternberg, Marion Pilowksy, Kenneth Branagh, Simon Moseley
Composer: Patrick Doyle

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 11, 2008

[DVD Details]

Blu-ray Features:

  • Snap Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, Portuguese, Spanish
  • Subtitles - English, French, Portuguese, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary: 1. Kenneth Branagh
  • 2. Michael Caine
  • 3. Jude Law
  • Behind the Scenes - 1. A Game of Cat & Mouse: Behind the Scenes of Sleuth
  • 2. Inspector Doppler: Make-up Secrets Revealed

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image
2/5

Pinter's pauses, and the dour air of so much of the interplay, just don't fit on a story that's this slight.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC
Ratings Image
N/A

Once the homosexual subtext is brought to the surface, everything seems to be a joke. Are they gay, kidding, or just considering?

Full Review | comment Comment
04/10/08
Brian Holcomb
PopMatters
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Fans of the original should stay away.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/19/08
David Stratton
At the Movies
Ratings Image
3/4

The script includes a verbal motif that reminds us of what binds the film's four central talents together: 'I want to show you something.' [Blu-Ray review]

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/08
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/07/08
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

What this Sleuth lacks in enthusiasm it makes up in character-driven menace.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/04/08
David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com
Ratings Image
N/A

Despite Branagh's every attempt to capitalise on the intimacy of the cinematic medium with (intrusive) close-ups, the direction is heavy handed; the result being a dramatic, but emotionally cold experience

Full Review | comment Comment
03/01/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/15/08
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image
N/A

Director Kenneth Branagh has mercifully pared the action down to 88 minutes (the first movie dragged on for 138), but the final act... still seems to go on forever.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/14/07
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

What Pinter and Branagh present is a much more wicked, cold, disturbing film that is even more confined than the original.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/12/07
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Ratings Image
3/4

Seems to me that the Kenneth Branagh-Harold Pinter Sleuth is a pretty good movie. It just isn't a very good Sleuth, exactly.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/07/07
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer
Ratings Image
N/A

By the time the film ends on a flat note, it is long past the point of failing to effectively showcase a meeting of minds between two great actors.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/01/07
Matt Kelemen
Las Vegas CityLife
Ratings Image
3/5

Whether you like the film probably depends on whether you can treat it all as seriously as Pinter and Branagh. If you can't, this short, brackish piece will not work at all, even if you don't regard it as a piece of piss.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Derek Malcolm
This is London
Ratings Image
1/5

A Dead Film Walking, a zombie of a film, a shuffling Frankenstein's monster of a film, leaking electricity from its badly-fitting neck bolts, tragically whimpering at the pointless agony of its own brief existence.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Ratings Image
0/5

Message to Jude: You have more chance of convincingly concealing that receding hairline than becoming the new Michael Caine. Stop trying to be something you are not — a charismatic actor.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Sun Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

This is the kind of intimate physicality that Pinter pumps into Shaffer’s script. But it will take a better director than Branagh to tease it into the real world.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Ratings Image
2/5

Directed by Kenneth Branagh and scripted by no less than Harold Pinter, the wicked charm of Sleuth Mk1 has been stripped away to leave a nasty, dispiriting and strangely cold psychological thriller.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Daily Mirror [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2.5/5

A bold, initially fascinating but ultimately misguided attempt to 'Pinter-ize' an old-fashioned puzzle. Great mysteries leave their audience marveling 'how did they do that?' Sleuth 2007 leaves you scratching your head, wondering why they bothered.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Leigh Singer
Channel 4 Film
Ratings Image
3/5

Caine and Law rustle up a spicy chemistry which sustains a sizzle for an hour or so. But the second half panders to Pinter’s self-indulgence, unravelling Branagh’s high-tensile head-fuck as a hollow skirmish.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/23/07
Andy Lowe
Total Film
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