Ripley's Game

Not a bad effort, but having read all of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels, it fell some way short. The acting was good but changing the setting from a modest French house to an Italian mansion made the film feel detached from the original ourvre.

A reasonably good thriller, but falls far short of The Talented Mr Ripley's panache, even if Malkovich makes a very convincing sociopath. The motivation of Ripley's pawn, the hapless picture framer, played by Dougray Scott, is implausible, or at least the director fails to capture the mystery that surrounds the will to crime. Ray Winstone does his usual eastender villain schtick. Still, it has some lovely interiors, pretty ladies, one or two droll one-liners. But a missed opportunity, overall.

This may not be as good as the talented Mr Ripley, but it is really good. John Malkovic is brilliant and as soon as you see him the Matt Damon version of Ripley just disappears. Great story and the whole film has a gritty, atmospheric feel to it that reminded me of old french/italian movies of the fifties and sixties. Dougray Scott is really good as well. In fact, I don't think he has been as good in anything else he has done since. Really good movie. Even the car Ripley drives is cool!

Utterly awesome, a classic.

Gripping, dirty, realistic.

Malkovitch plays a sinister mastermind that is both lovable and ruthless! A must watch.

John Malkovich plays Tom Ripley, a fascinating character devoid of any real conscience yet likeable at the same time. I've not seen 'The Talented Mr Ripley' or read any of the books but I liked this story, although implausible at times it was still enjoyable to watch. John Malkovich plays it really well and he is supported well by Ray Winstone and Dougray Scott. Ripley is approached by Reeves (Ray Winstone) as he needs help to kill a business rival of his. Ripley suggets he recruits a local picture framer (Dougray Scott) who has lukemia to do it, which he actually does (that's the implausible bit) Once it's done though he's approached again by Reeves with more work and this incurs more problems for all of them which will eventually come to a head.

So, a good story, Malkovich is great but some of the more tense scenes in it fall a bit flat. In saying that, I enjoyed the ending too so I'd say it's worth watching!