Film Reviews

Sleuth

• Rating:
• Director: Kenneth Branagh
• Starring: Harold Pinter
• Details: USA / 86mins (15A)

Adapted by playwright Harold Pinter from Anthony Schaffer's play, Sleuth, (which is also a remake of Joseph L. Mankiewiz's 1972 outing) is a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller set in one house. Milo Tindle (Law) arrives at novelist Andrew Wyke's country house one evening to persuade the writer to give his wife Maggie a divorce. Wyke, jealous that his wife is seeing the handsome Milo, agrees on one condition - that Milo stage a break-in and steal Maggie's diamonds. What is Wyke up to? Can he be trusted? A battle of wits ensues. For the first half hour, Sleuth is an engaging and tidy thriller with interesting characters in a twisty-turny plot that boasts honed, rapid-fire dialogue. As the players move from room to room, turning points are heaped upon turning points and Sleuth had the promise of being a winner. However, it dips in the middle and sinks in the final third, as the pace slows up, repetition takes over, boredom sets in and the short 86 minutes drag on and on and it ends up feeling like an epic. Caine is fine but Law isn't at the races, cutting and pasting his Dickie Greenleaf performance into Milo. Sleuth should have worked, but it doesn't.

Review by Gavin Burke