"A millionaire detective novelist matches wits with the unemployed actor who ran off with his wife in a deadly serious, seriously twisted game with dangerous consequences."
According to most accounts, this is a remake of the 1972 film, but Pinter's screenplay offers "a fresh take" on Shaffer's play and "a very different form" from the original film. In his review of the film's debut at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Morris observes: "The reworking of the play is not just an adept transformation of theater to film ... but also casts a revealing light on social history, reflecting the enormous changes in English society, language and morals in the nearly 40 years since the play first appeared on the London stage."
Caine played the role of Milo Tindle in the original film. In the 2007 film, Caine performs the role of Andrew Wyke, originated by Laurence Olivier, and Law performs Caine's original role of Milo Tindle. This is the second film in which Law performs a role originated by Caine (The first was the title role in Alfie).
Pinter, the actors, and the director say this version of Sleuth is not strictly a "remake." Law has called it "a completely reinvented Sleuth" ... It didn't feel like a remake. I always loved the idea at its heart of two men battling it out for a woman you never meet....'"Law further felt that, "I was creating a character [Milo Tindle], I wasn't recreating one.'" Caine said, "I never felt that I had gone back to Sleuth", and called the Pinter script "an entirely different thing. There isn't a single line in it that was in the other one, and Pinter had never seen the [1972] movie. Jude [Law] gave him the stage play and said, 'Write a screenplay for me' ... It was a completely different experience'". In a television interview conducted on RAI TV during the Venice International Film Festival, Caine states: "If the script hadn't been by Harold Pinter, I wouldn't have done the movie".
Pinter said, "'It's a totally new take. ... I had not either seen or read the play, and I hadn't seen the film adapted from the play either, so I knew nothing about it. So I simply read the play and I think it's totally transformed. I've kept one or two plot things because you have to but apart from that, I think I've made it my own'" (wikipedia.org)Sleuth is a mind game,a quite elaborate one.It is one of these movies that you either like their concept from the start or you don't.One of the points of criticism has to do with the scenery and the direction of the movie.Many critics find the movie too dark or claustrophobic.In my opinion the scenery is not by any means a drawback,it is actually a positive element.It helps in the creation of the suggestive,dark atmosphere of the movie which reflects the content of the plot, the emotions of the main characters.The minimalist nature of the domicile is theatening and so the characters are ,a threat to each other.
As i said before ,Sleuth is an elaborate mind game.The elaborate nature of the plot,while at first it seems simple,leads sometimes the audience to be fooled or to be confused.One very strong aspect of the movie are the dialogues.The script of Nobel prize winner Harold Pinter is full of smart,straight-forward,even cynical lines."Caine and Law are in fine form bantering cleverly in this entertaining cat-and-mouse game, thanks to the inspired dialogue of Harold Pinter. They parry, using witticisms instead of swords." says Claudia Puig in her review.
The dialogues aid the verbal battle between Wyke and Tiddle,which is the main focus of the movie.Jude Law and Micheal Caine engage in a ruthless battle,from which only one will survive.While Jude Law's perfomance is adequate,the perfomance of Micheal Caine stands out.
His portrayal of Andrew Wyke as a smart,deceiving,cynical detective novelist is brilliant.
The music aids to the suggestive nature of the atmosphere.The movie "slows" down towards the end but comes to a fitting conclusion."Goodbye darling."
Sleuth is a mind game in which either you participate (along with the characters) or you don't.As far as i am concerned,i participated and i enjoyed it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eDrdGPhs7vg&feature=related
