Deception (DVD)

~~~ Synopsis ~~~

A nerdy company auditor, Jonathan McQuarry is lured into a private sex ring called 'The List', falling in love with a participant of the ring, known as S. After falling hook line and sinker for her, Jonathan enters a tangled web of deceit and intricacy that sees him being blackmailed with her life. The ransom for seeing her alive is the embezzlement of funds from one of his prestigious clients.

After ...
...take the risks he needs to in order to secure her freedom? Or will he bow to his good-natured and impeccable record?


~~~ My Thoughts ~~~

The movie progresses at a steady pace but it does wait until about 45 minutes to understand why we have been assembled here and align the story to the title of this movie. Up until then we see Jonathan enter the anonymous sex ring and become very familiar with its workings. ... more

~~~ Synopsis ~~~

A nerdy company auditor, Jonathan McQuarry is lured into a private sex ring called 'The List', falling in love with a participant of the ring, known as S. After falling hook line and sinker for her, Jonathan enters a tangled web of deceit and intricacy that sees him being blackmailed with her life. The ransom for seeing her alive is the embezzlement of funds from one of his prestigious clients.

After a couple of non-sexual encounters, does Jonathan love S enough take the risks he needs to in order to secure her freedom? Or will he bow to his good-natured and impeccable record?

~~~ My Thoughts ~~~

The movie progresses at a steady pace but it does wait until about 45 minutes to understand why we have been assembled here and align the story to the title of this movie. Up until then we see Jonathan enter the anonymous sex ring and become very familiar with its workings. When participants ring each other for their booty call, the initiator uses the phrase "Are you free tonight?"

In my opinion although we needed to understand the operation of the ring we did not need to see the different encounters and it did not warrant 40% of the movie running time. This means the real part of the story was squashed into about an hour. So truth be told, it could have been a shorter movie.

The genre of this movie is Drama, Thriller and the story is told with a few twists and turns. Some are quite cunning and you don't expect them but the majority are predictable and for those that have seen Derailed with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston will be able to unravel the story straight away. I would say the turns were 30% cunning and 70% predictable.

During some key moments, between all the key characters, the director does attempt to build tension, but this is slow to build and because it is predictable it does not provide any satisfactory enjoyment to the film. Predictability can be a poor trait in any movie unless it is a comedy and here it shows. I would say, the weaving and intertwining of the story is quite good but does not move too quickly.

The cinematography is worth mentioning. Set in New York, the back drop is mainly New York at night and it shows the city up very nicely with all it lights and stunning skylines through the floor to ceiling office windows. The only other view you get is the inside of hotels, which to be honest is not worth mentioning further.

As it is supposed to be a thriller, I will refrain from mentioning any specific scenes or storylines except the basic premise of the movie. I hope you can appreciate that.

~~~ Cast & Characters ~~~

Ewan McGregor plays the nerdy Jonathan. A geeky character with no friends or life. A chance encounter with Wyatt sees him take on a whole new anonymous no-strings lifestyle. To be honest if you looked like the character Jonathan, you would need all the help you could get. Ewan plays the character as it should, shy, sexually-repressed and naive. Come on there have to be some strings doesn't there?

Ever heard an American accent portrayed by a Scottish actor? The American accent that Ewan uses is poor. Too poor to pass without comment. I noticed that every time Ewan spoke it was an American with a slight Scottish twang at the end of the word. Come on Ewan, you are supposed to be an accomplished actor. Or is your voice coach not worth the fees?

Hugh Jackman plays Wyatt Bose, the blackmailer and purveyor of the anonymous sex ring to Jonathan. The first thing you notice about Hugh on screen, it is Wolverine, then "Wow, he looks old". We put it down to his Australian lifestyle but maybe poor make-up as Ewan does not look so bad. Maybe it is supposed to make him look menacing as the token baddie in the film. In terms of the acting, this is supposed to be a lead role jointly held with Jonathan McQuarry but Hugh Jackman spends very little time on the screen. The first part of the movie (45 mins to 1 hour), Wyatt meets Jonathan and is then only heard on the phone and only surfaces again in the last third of the movie.

Michelle Williams (Dawsons Creek, Brokeback Mountain) plays S. It is primarily a supporting role and I think there is still a long way for Michelle Williams to go before her acting can be considered movie quality. How many different ways can you play a blonde pretty lady part? Ok, you can change the scenery and the storyline, but if a part doesn't require much from you, you aren't going to give. Ok, maybe I am a bit harsh and the script or directing might not bring out the best of Michelle's abilities, but in order for her to move up from the B-List of actors, she really needs to find a meatier role that will challenge her to learn some new methods.

~~~ Conclusion ~~~

Ok, so all of these actors cannot be bad actors. Therefore I can only surmise that the script and directing are not up to scratch. For a start, the story is one that has been told many times before, so the direction would really need to be excellent for this movie to make it against other better movies.

This is in fact Marcel Langenegger's movie directorial debut. If it were my debut, I would have maybe chosen a lesser known storyline as then it is difficult to compare against much better scripted, casted and acted movies of this genre.

To be honest, given the two lead actors, I would have expected to see a much better acted movie even if the storyline was poor, but I cannot really recommend this movie. There are much better versions out there. Furthermore, I cannot even remember this movie even being on at the cinema. My boyfriend has the unlimited Cineworld pass and he can't remember either. He had never seen it and he spends all his time using his 'free' card.

There were no special features to mention. Thumbs down and only 2 stars from me.

~~~ Other Information ~~~

Released on: 26 August 2008
Directed by: Marcel Langenegger
Run time: 108 mins
Certificate: 15
Website: http://www.deception-movie.com/

Thank you for reading. This review may be posted on other sites by me.

© jupiter28 2008 

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