http://www.atnzone.com/moviezone/reviews/talentedripley.shtml

Bret Polish
@N-Zone Magazine. c 1999 All reviews contained above are
copyrighted by it's individual authors and may not be
reproduced without their permission.


While it grows increasingly preposterous and convoluted during
its resolution, for the most part "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is
an engrossing, finely crafted thriller/character study the
whole way through. Of course writer-director Anthony
Minghella's follow-up to his Academy Award winning, critically
extolled film, "The English Patient," can't compare favorably
to any of the Master's best works, but it's easily the best
attempt at Hitchcockian suspense since "Dressed to Kill."

The suspense sets in once Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) accepts an
offer from shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn)
to go to Italy and bring his son Dickie (Jude Law) back home.
We know something funny is going on when right after he gets
off the ship, Tom introduces himself to a young lady (Cate
Blanchett) as Dickie. Tom proceeds to contact Dickie and the
two quickly become friends. He finds out that Dickie is
engaged to Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) and wants to stay
in Italy. Even though Dickie refuses to go, Tom decides to
extend his visit and use Herbert's money until the funds run
dry. The story takes some unusual turns and soon Tom finds
himself a murderer with a number of suspicious people to
silence.

I have yet to read Patricia Highsmith's acclaimed 1955 novel,
but I head that albeit the prominent homo-erotic under-tones
which were merely implied in the book, "The Talented Mr.
Ripley" sticks rather close to Highsmith's scheme of events.
This decision was wisely avoided in Rene Clement's 1960 gem
"Purple Noon." Except for an insipidly moral denouement,
"Purple Noon" was a first-rate thriller that expediently kept
the scale small, abstaining from following some of the story's
more contrived plot twists. Both "Purple Noon" and "The
Talented Mr. Ripley" are based on the same source material,
but I still prefer the latter, so I was apt to notice the
generally adverse differences between the two. The weakest
aspect of Minghella's otherwise shrewd screenplay is
stretching the plot out in its final passages. The film's main
premise is sufficiently wrapped up around the time it reaches
the two hour mark. The last twenty minutes work to emphasize
Ripley's sociopathic tendencies and his inability to confront
his own emotions, but these topics were already clearly
supported by the rest of the film. I guess these concluding
scenes are thematically related, but the story goes out on an
extraneous tangent which, as effective as it is, is just a
nonsensical way of prolonging the ending. Still, although I
felt Minghella's film was over-shadowed by "Purple Noon," it
is in its own right a gripping, intelligent character study
that is sure to keep most viewers at the edge of their seats.

Not only does Minghella do a splendid job of developing his
characters, but for a movie with such an amoral lead he keeps
a fascinatingly objective standpoint. This unique position
helps the audience to get a deeper understanding of what
makes Tom Ripley tick without ever letting him become too
off-putting. Even though the film can be repulsively violent
at times, I got the feeling it was all for an important
scientific purpose, to document a person's behavior and their
possible motives instead of just using him as a subject for
entertainment. While Minghella does go to great lengths to
infallibly build suspense in order to keep an otherwise
unpleasant film diverting, he never comes out and makes an
opinion on what the characters are doing to each other
through didactic cinematographic tricks (you know, the use of
light or dark colors to symbolize good and evil) or a
manipulative musical score. Along with cinematographer John
Seale, he certainly takes advantage of the film's lush
Italian settings, but only to underscore the way Ripley
becomes so enchanted by his surrounding, to the point where
he will kill to keep the new life he has gotten a taste of.
By judiciously refraining from ever making any judgments of
his characters, Minghella makes "The Talented Mr. Ripley" an
astutely detached, intellectual (as opposed to emotional)
experience. This approach might turn off viewers who would
rather let the filmmaker make decisions for them so they
don't have to think about what they're watching. However,
everyone else probably will be able to appreciate the film
for its refreshingly unbiased perspective.

The film's characterizations do a fine job of bringing
Minghella's script to life, even if some of the character's
decisions are kind of implausible some of the time. I
particularly admired Matt Damon's subtly menacing
performance. He probably won't receive any accolades for his
low-key performance, but his sinister turn in "The Talented
Mr. Ripley," especially when compared to his decent but
unexceptional performances in films like "Rounders" and
"Good Will Hunting," shows the further development of someone
who might one day prove himself to be a great actor. Of the
other cast members, the only actors who made much of an
impression on me were Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. For such
a young actor, Jude Law projects enormous charisma and could
very well be as smooth a leading man as Cary Grant. If he was
in the film for a little longer, I'd say that he deserves an
Oscar nomination. In her role, Gwyneth Paltrow makes a
convincingly vulnerable heroine. The Academy Award winning
(she received a statuette for her winning performance in
"Shakespeare in Love") actress has been better before, but
she makes a rather standard character undeniably her own with
an effectively naive performance. Those who held "The English
Patient" in high esteem are probably going to find "The
Talented Mr. Ripley" too flawed to be on the same level as
Minghella's previous film, but in its own way I think "The
Talented Mr. Ripley" is almost as good, if not exactly Award
caliber. It definitely works well as a thriller, but if you
look beyond some of the standard genre elements, "The Talented
Mr. Ripley" is a mighty fine character study that should
enthrall those looking for more than just entertainment.