Review: A Perfect Murder

I've never considered Dial M For Murder to be among the best of Alfred Hitchcock's oeuvre. Then again, that's like saying scoring 30 points is an off night for Michael Jordan. Hitchcock, aptly named the Master of Suspense, set the standard for psychological suspense thrillers. Dial M For Murder, which originated as a stage play, was a solid film but it wasn't as unforgettable as his other work, which included Rebecca, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Vertigo, and Psycho. Still, Dial M For Murder contains Hitchcock's unerring sense of pacing and building suspense, an ability many filmmakers have tried to replicate. A Perfect Murder, an updated reworking of Dial M For Murder, is a nifty, surprisingly nasty thriller that -- dare I say it? -- bests its predecessor.

Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, essaying the roles played by Ray Milland and Grace Kelly in the original, star as Steven and Emily Taylor, an affluent New York couple. The considerably younger wife has been having an affair with a struggling painter, David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), and is thinking of leaving her husband. With his investments sinking and no prenuptial in sight, Steven concocts a scheme to have his wayward wife killed so he can inherit her trust fund. For an ironic touch, he decides to have Emily's lover commit the crime.

Twists and turns abound in Patrick Smith Kelly's well-plotted screenplay. It's exciting to have director Andrew Davis, who stumbled with the leaden Steal Big, Steal Little after the exhilarating The Fugitive, back in top form. He utilizes James Newton Howard's persuasively ominous, if occasionally overbearing, score, Dariusz Wolski's fluid camerawork and Philip Rosenberg's sleek production design to enhance the suspense. The Taylors' apartment, with its frigid, burnished elegance, serves as a fourth character. During the murder scene, the tension mounts as Emily makes her way through the cavernous abode, unaware that an attacker awaits her.

David Suchet appears briefly, but unforgettably, as a detective who suspects Steven of the crime. Of the star trio, only Mortensen falls short. He is undeniably gorgeous -- he has a brooding, romantic quality and is blessed with superbly chiseled features -- but he's been better in other films, most notably Sean Penn's directorial debut The Indian Runner. By the way, the paintings shown in the film are Mortensen's; he created them to get in character. At least we have the paintings.

Paltrow's tantalizing incandescence has yet to dim; she seems more and more luscious with each film. She's such a vital presence that she almost doesn't have to act so it's of great comfort that she can. Paltrow brings a youthful melancholy, enormous sympathy as well as a dash of reckless insouciance to a character that is less complex written than played. She is particularly affecting in her scenes with Douglas before the attack; it's as if she can sense her fate when he gazes at her. Yet watching her, looking chic and smartly attired, I began hoping she wouldn't end up like Lana Turner, whose angelic softness gave way to a brittle, almost petrified glamour. Only time will tell.

Douglas is villainous from the get-go, a decision I don't quite agree with. His Steven is so conspicuously sinister that one has to wonder how Emily could have married him. Yet with the commercials and advertisements trumpeting his motives, I suppose Michael Douglas could have worn a sign reading, "I will murder my wife," without any detriment to the plot.

Douglas' performance is his best since Basic Instinct. Since then, his performances have felt recycled, almost mechanical. In A Perfect Murder, Douglas finally breathes again. His Steven Taylor seethes with coiled fury and civilized menace. Some may complain that Douglas and Paltrow set off few sparks but that's the point. Steven Taylor possesses, he controls, he does not love. When David tries to wrangle out of Steven's plan, Douglas does a neat gesture: he tugs at his scarf with a certain jaunty arrogance. It's a mocking touch: how dare the boy think he can outwit me? When Douglas allows a sigh of relief towards the end, it is because he has seemingly regained everything he feared lost. "Greed is good," he intoned in Wall Street, "greed works." For a while, it does for Steven Taylor.

As the film progresses, A Perfect Murder begins to resemble a macabre screwball comedy as Steven juggles an ever-increasing avalanche of lies and obstacles. Douglas scampers about, coming apart in his designer seams, and his doggedness is a sheer wonder. He reminds us that Michael Douglas is an actor and a movie star, and an indispensable one at that.

A Perfect Murder

Directed by: Andrew Davis

Written by: Patrick Smith Kelly; adapted from the play by Frederick Knott

Starring: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet, Sarita Choudhury