Okay but not great
Added 1/30/2010
Please note that I saw this on HBO so I can't comment on the quality of the video transfer or its features.
Deception has some good points--mainly the excellent cast--and some decent acting. But the plot is, as other writers here have noted, so full of holes that you could drive a truck through them. But if you ignore that, and concentrate on the development of the main characters, none of whom are what they seem to be on the surface, and which is gradually revealed during the course of the movie, there is some tension and drama from that as the movie unfolds and you discover their true nature. The idea of an exclusive, casual sex club in New York City where people use fictional names to hide their true identities, is sort of interesting, and a key relationship in the movie gets developed because of that when they break the club's rules of anonymity. The details of the international banking and money transfers were also sort of interesting, and the movie has an unexpected twist of an ending. The sex club idea reminded me of the infamous Plato's Retreat decades ago in New York City--I wonder if anyone still remembers that?
I also want to mention that the movie has Charlotte Rampling in a supporting role, who I haven't seen in many years. The last time I recall seeing her was in the sci-fi/fantasy movie Zardoz from the mid-80s where she played opposite Sean Connery. This was not one of Connery's most successful movies, (as one reviewer here said, "It's a movie that takes two hours to inform us that immortal dilettantes would become suicidally bored"), but has since become something of a cult flick. At least it was better than the much cheesier Logan's Run starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Farah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov, from the same period. Anyway, I digress, but getting back to the present film, altogether, not a great movie but not a bad one, either, and if you're a Jackman or McGregor or Williams fan probably worth your while.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me...
Added 1/6/2010
In the fast corporate world of America, business is just business and entanglements are annoying hindrances.
However, if you're Jonathan McQuarry, you won't think so. He wants complications; he wants all the trouble and hindrances he can get. But it ain't exactly easy even though, seemingly on the outside, he is a well-adjusted and successful man. In reality, he is an awkward, lonely accountant, who craves companionship but doesn't have the confidence to chase after it.
While on one of his many two week jobs, auditing major corporations in the heart of FiDi, he comes across Wyatt Bose, a fast talking, smooth-sailing confidence man that Jonathan would give anything to immolate. Bose introduces him to the high life, and to the kind of existence that Jonathan has always dreamed of but never thought he could attain. It gets him thinking, wanting, doing.
When their phones are accidentally switched, it introduces Jonathan to The List, a Sex Club for the corporate and the highly successful and run by them. One-night stands, hot sex with beautiful strangers, Jonathan goes crazy and wild, gaining confidence and an edge along the way. And maybe, just enough to keep him alive.
As he meets more women, then beds them, both older and younger women, Jonathan can't escape the face of a beautiful blonde he caught a glimpse of in the metro. When he finds her, he can't get enough of her.
And thus, untangles the ugly truth of Wyatt Bose, aka, Jamie Getz, criminal extraordinaire, and his muse, the mysterious blonde woman 'S'. What Jonathan finds out too late is that the whole meet-greet and suck him in into the glamorous life is a game. To steal millions.
Deception is a standard, transparent and predictable psychological thriller/suspense that is mostly forgettable, following all the tried and true 'slight of hand' tricks that were poorly executed or interesting. It had a fairly well crafted character arch, in which Ewan McGregor's ability, as the geeky-gawky loser, gives more than what's there and is the film's only saving grace. Hugh Jackman pulled off a chilling and conniving criminal, though he just can't compete with McGregor. Lacking wit or intelligence in general, the cinematography and the overall look of the film almost makeups for this dull effort by Marcel Langenegger, because that's actually well done and you won't take your eyes off for that precise reason. The surprise appearances by Maggie Q and Charlotte Rampling added some flavor and mild depth that the movie, in its entirely, lacked completely.
It wasn't the actors, who did well enough, it was a plot that you know to well with nothing new. Michelle Williams as the troubled and doe-eyed S, while completely transformed as to not be recognizable, is a bland and useless visual. Her role as the vehicle to transform Jonathan is unfulfilled. There is one twist and turn that you won't expect but how it ends is not only lame, but disappointing and utterly saccharine. On a rainy day with little expectation and if you're in the mood for a predictable thriller, Deception will win you over. However, if you like a bit more thought and better story telling in general, pass. Or watch once, wince, and move on.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Deception
Added 12/18/2009
Deception was such a great movie with a good story. It was fun to see what people can really get themselves into. This movie took many twits and turns. Every scene that you try to predict it goes a different way. It was very unpredictable and that is a good thing. It kept you guessing the whole movie through.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
2008 Deception film on DVD.
Added 11/23/2009
The film narrative was cleverly constructed, up until a point though, like the predictable ending. Also, if you saw the film, Bad Influence, you might find some similarities.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Deception
Added 10/28/2009
Leave your inghibitions at the door as Hugh Jackman (X-Men Trilogy) and Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) lure Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge) into a tangled web of lust and lies in this scorching thriller. Lonely, timid accountant Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor) lives only for his work - until a chance meeting with suave, charismnatic corporate lawyer Wyatt Bose (Jackman) introduces him to "The List". Suddenly, the right mobile phone number and the words "Are You Free Tonight?", launch Jonathan on a decadent journey of sexual conquests and self-discovery amidst New York's power elite. But an affair with a ravishing and mysterious stranger (Williams) will expose him to yet another world he never imagined: one of betrayal, treachery and murder!
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Okay but not great
Added 1/30/2010
Please note that I saw this on HBO so I can't comment on the quality of the video transfer or its features.
Deception has some good points--mainly the excellent cast--and some decent acting. But the plot is, as other writers here have noted, so full of holes that you could drive a truck through them. But if you ignore that, and concentrate on the development of the main characters, none of whom are what they seem to be on the surface, and which is gradually revealed during the course of the movie, there is some tension and drama from that as the movie unfolds and you discover their true nature. The idea of an exclusive, casual sex club in New York City where people use fictional names to hide their true identities, is sort of interesting, and a key relationship in the movie gets developed because of that when they break the club's rules of anonymity. The details of the international banking and money transfers were also sort of interesting, and the movie has an unexpected twist of an ending. The sex club idea reminded me of the infamous Plato's Retreat decades ago in New York City--I wonder if anyone still remembers that?
I also want to mention that the movie has Charlotte Rampling in a supporting role, who I haven't seen in many years. The last time I recall seeing her was in the sci-fi/fantasy movie Zardoz from the mid-80s where she played opposite Sean Connery. This was not one of Connery's most successful movies, (as one reviewer here said, "It's a movie that takes two hours to inform us that immortal dilettantes would become suicidally bored"), but has since become something of a cult flick. At least it was better than the much cheesier Logan's Run starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Farah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov, from the same period. Anyway, I digress, but getting back to the present film, altogether, not a great movie but not a bad one, either, and if you're a Jackman or McGregor or Williams fan probably worth your while.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me...
Added 1/6/2010
In the fast corporate world of America, business is just business and entanglements are annoying hindrances.
However, if you're Jonathan McQuarry, you won't think so. He wants complications; he wants all the trouble and hindrances he can get. But it ain't exactly easy even though, seemingly on the outside, he is a well-adjusted and successful man. In reality, he is an awkward, lonely accountant, who craves companionship but doesn't have the confidence to chase after it.
While on one of his many two week jobs, auditing major corporations in the heart of FiDi, he comes across Wyatt Bose, a fast talking, smooth-sailing confidence man that Jonathan would give anything to immolate. Bose introduces him to the high life, and to the kind of existence that Jonathan has always dreamed of but never thought he could attain. It gets him thinking, wanting, doing.
When their phones are accidentally switched, it introduces Jonathan to The List, a Sex Club for the corporate and the highly successful and run by them. One-night stands, hot sex with beautiful strangers, Jonathan goes crazy and wild, gaining confidence and an edge along the way. And maybe, just enough to keep him alive.
As he meets more women, then beds them, both older and younger women, Jonathan can't escape the face of a beautiful blonde he caught a glimpse of in the metro. When he finds her, he can't get enough of her.
And thus, untangles the ugly truth of Wyatt Bose, aka, Jamie Getz, criminal extraordinaire, and his muse, the mysterious blonde woman 'S'. What Jonathan finds out too late is that the whole meet-greet and suck him in into the glamorous life is a game. To steal millions.
Deception is a standard, transparent and predictable psychological thriller/suspense that is mostly forgettable, following all the tried and true 'slight of hand' tricks that were poorly executed or interesting. It had a fairly well crafted character arch, in which Ewan McGregor's ability, as the geeky-gawky loser, gives more than what's there and is the film's only saving grace. Hugh Jackman pulled off a chilling and conniving criminal, though he just can't compete with McGregor. Lacking wit or intelligence in general, the cinematography and the overall look of the film almost makeups for this dull effort by Marcel Langenegger, because that's actually well done and you won't take your eyes off for that precise reason. The surprise appearances by Maggie Q and Charlotte Rampling added some flavor and mild depth that the movie, in its entirely, lacked completely.
It wasn't the actors, who did well enough, it was a plot that you know to well with nothing new. Michelle Williams as the troubled and doe-eyed S, while completely transformed as to not be recognizable, is a bland and useless visual. Her role as the vehicle to transform Jonathan is unfulfilled. There is one twist and turn that you won't expect but how it ends is not only lame, but disappointing and utterly saccharine. On a rainy day with little expectation and if you're in the mood for a predictable thriller, Deception will win you over. However, if you like a bit more thought and better story telling in general, pass. Or watch once, wince, and move on.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Deception
Added 12/18/2009
Deception was such a great movie with a good story. It was fun to see what people can really get themselves into. This movie took many twits and turns. Every scene that you try to predict it goes a different way. It was very unpredictable and that is a good thing. It kept you guessing the whole movie through.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
