THE PLOT THUS FAR
A retired CIA operative is paired with a young FBI agent to unravel the mystery of a senator’s murder, with all signs pointing to a Soviet assassin.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Double” repairs itself enough in the acting and plot field to prevent a completely unpleasant experience. After a senator is murdered, with a note tagged on him with the name “Cassius,” a famed Russian assassin, a retired CIA agent named Paul Sheperdson is forced to return to his job to try and catch the man. Paul has been researching the man for years and knows all about him. He is paired up with Ben Geary, a young, intelligent white-collar who has persistently studied Cassius and his murders for years. He even wrote a Harvard thesis on the man himself. Now there’s a man that might not be unemployed during the 2000′s recession.
Where there should be thrills and chills, there’s just predictable plot turns. While the film is quite a bore, the story comes around full circle answering every question the audience may or may not have had about every character and situation we observe. It’s surprising to see Richard Gere starring in The Double because of the seemingly and blatantly obvious mediocre script. During the film he seems bored and disengaged which doesn’t help with the chemistry between him and Grace. Grace, trying extremely hard to be dramatic, is quite ineffective. All that is seen is his character Eric Foreman from ‘That 70s Show,” screeching with his high pitch voice and failing to deliver on nearly every note.
The Blu-Ray comes with interviews, commentary and a trailer. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is really expansive for a film that still has an indie vibe. The 1080p transfer is really sharp, but there seems to be no clarity in the field of depth. The backgrounds all share a haze throughout the film. I wish that the film would’ve been a little cleaner in the audio/visual field. In the end, I’d recommend a rental.
RELEASE DATE: 01/31/2012
