The Talented Mr. Ripley Reviews
Top Critic
Familiarity is the watchword of this overblown opus, which neglects holes in the plot to play up its postmodern theme of identity as pastiche -- a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.
On balance, The Talented Mr. Ripley is worth seeing more for its undeniably delightful journey than its final destination.
Not only is it an elegantly polished affair, with top notch performances all round, and magnificent camerawork and editing, it's also acutely aware of how class, money and sex shape desire and resentment.
It's a gorgeously unsettling film. You can hide in the shadows, but luminescence exposes who you are, and the only escape is into another identity.
Even before its release, The Talented Mr. Ripley has attracted some mighty serious analytic attention.
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| Original Score: 3/4
If anybody can create sympathy for the devil, the angelic Matt Damon can.
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| Original Score: 4/4
The movie is an intelligent a thriller as you'll see this year.
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| Original Score: 4/4
The Talented Mr. Ripley offers diabolically smart surprises wherever you care to look.
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| Original Score: 4/5
It's a sign of how watered-down the movie is that only the supporting actors have any bite.
The kind of sophisticated, old-fashioned thriller Hollywood doesn't get around to much anymore.
And there are good reasons to see the new film, both for the scenery and the generally fine acting.
Perhaps at 90 or so minutes, it would have been the Hitchcockian thriller that it isn't at the beginning but turns into. At two hours and 20 minutes, there's too much of the film that feels like reiteration.
The Talented Mr. Ripley may be Hitchcock on holiday, but that's a perfectly enjoyable vacation.
The Talented Mr. Ripley inhabits a world of shiny, sparkly surfaces. Looking beneath those surfaces provides provocative fun and probing drama.
In terms of psychological profundity, it isn't one millimeter deep.
Minghella isn't going back to the modest style and the organic emotion of Truly, Madly, Deeply, his first and still his best film.
Seductive and stylish.
| Original Score: 3/4
Anthony Minghella's terrific The Talented Mr. Ripleyoffers us the guilty seasonal pleasure of wallowing in evil in its most luxuriant form.
The Talented Mr. Ripley loses a bit of its steam toward the end, but Minghella has still delivered an extremely provocative and well-made film.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a purposeful visual feast.
Again, Minghella proves himself the most stylish and literate of film makers.
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| Original Score: 3/4
The movie gives us enticing sights and sounds, brilliant scenes, gifted actors and artists and at least part of one of the all-time great nerve-jangling thriller plots.
Matt Damon is simply not convincing in this role. Not only is his performance flat, but he is unable to generate any sense of menace.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
A beautifully executed Hollywood all-you-can-eat salad bar of glamour, plot twists, breathtaking Mediterranean vistas, and jazz.
He [Anthony Minghella] is aided by the intensely bright cinematography of John Seale, a score by Gabriel Yared that mixes hot jazz with classical, and the bold and lively retro-chic costumes of Ann Roth and Gary Jones.
It's an Italian feast, spiked with just enough arsenic to make the flavors interesting and dangerous.
