Purely Joyful Movie!

Fresh and Exciting

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Urbane art expert Tom Ripley (John Malkovich) is in Berlin selling forgeries with British thug Reeves (Ray Winstone). He kills a man and promptly steals the money and the art. He gives the money to Reeves and ends their relationship. He lives in an Italian villa with his girlfriend Luisa. He meets locals Jonathan Trevanny (Dougray Scott) and his wife Sarah (Lena Headey). Reeves shows up with a job for an outsider to kill a rival. Ripley is not interested until he discovers that Jonathan is dying. He sees an opportunity to play a game.Malkovich is good as the creepy snakelike cold-hearted criminal. The movie could use some better style. It's a great psychological thriller. The visual needs to be more intense. There are some good work from Winstone and Dougray Scott. However the production looks more like a TV movie although it's a well-made Masterpiece Theatre TV movie. The movie should be terrifying but it feels slightly tired. I have to put it down to the director.

I watched this film having never seen any of the Ripley films or read any of the books, from a recommendation from a friend. From the first scene to the last I was riveted to the movie. Basically Tom Ripley (played superbly by John Malkovich) is a sociopath, a charming evil man without a conscience who can con, steal, murder and manipulate his way through life with ease for his own personal gain. During the process he has gone from nothing to being extremely wealthy and living in a mansion in a lush Venetian villa in Italy. He decides to play a deadly game with a neighbour. Jonathon Trevany, who insults him at a party. He finds out Jonathan has a few months to live as he has a terminal illness and arranges for him to do a assassination for a ex-business associate Reeves (Ray Winston) for a large amount of money that will set his family up for life. After manipulating events, it becomes clear that Reeves wants revenge on Ripley and blows the situation bigger. After murdering the target successfully and thinking that is it, Reeves wants Jonathan to kill the victims Russian co-workers using a garrote to strangle them. Completely out of hand and in an impossible situation. At the beginning of the movie we see Ripley rip off virtually everyone in a business deal involving forged artwork, in which Reeves had set up the deal in the first place, so we know why this is more than it seems. Ripley becomes friends with Jonathan in the meantime and appears to find a conscience and intervenes to sort out the huge situation he originally helped create. Jonathon is, after all an innocent picture framer who is totally out of his depth. Needless to say murder and mayhem follow once out main man comes onto the scene. All in a days work for Tom Ripley.The Film is fantastic, always moving at a fast pace and the cast of Winston, Malkovich and Dougray Scott all seem to enjoy their roles. There are several other Ripley films, Ripley underground was made after Ripley's Game in 2005 and is unreleased in the UK but available in some countries. Earlier Ripley films are Plein soleil (1960 France), American Friend (Made in 1977 and is actually from the book Ripley's game, an earlier version with Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley) & the talented Mr Ripley (1999) Recommended 9 out of 10.

Tom Ripley, the international man of many identities and numerous con games, is back for another round of cat and mouse. Ripley combines the sociopathic tendencies of Anton Chigurh of "No Country for Old Men, the cultured aspects of Hannibal Lector of "Silence of the Lambs" with the savvy and shrewdness of a con-artist like Gondorf of "the Sting" (played by Paul Neuman). But unlike Chigurh, Gondorf and Lector, Ripley plays at even higher stakes espionage often at an international poker game where losing hands mean destruction. Being able to bluff means survival. He defrauds antiques and art dealers. Infiltrates the highest levels of society. And he cons people into believing he is something he is not. While he has the intelligence of a trained assassin he can also identify genuine and fake artworks.In the current story, Ripley is middle-age and living well in a beautiful villa near a small medieval/renaissance-like town in Italy. He has the best taste in art and cuisine. He lavishes his Italian female companion with endless kisses and authentic Baroque-period harpsichords. She seems to know what he does and accepts him and his unconventional behavior. She seems detached from all that he does.One of his former art scam partners, Reeves Minot, arrives one day to his villa, inviting himself to brunch. He's opened up some clubs and a restaurant in Berlin, probably as a front for drug-dealing. He explains that some "neighbors" have become competitors in his racket and he is soliciting Ripley's help to "de-regulate them" for a fee of $50,000. Reeves doesn't want to carry out the deeds himself because it would be too obvious to the authorities as to who probably eliminated his competitors. Ripley initially refuses also fearing it would be too obvious to the police, given his former connection to Reeves. Ripley then suggests that an innocent, someone who has never before played "the game" might be the perfect choice for the job. The authorities might never suspect someone who was completely unconnected in the realm of the underworld.Ripley then suggests a British art framer, Jonathan Trevvany, whom Ripley had previously visited at a social occasion in which he was inadvertently insulted. The art framer has several weaknesses which might entice him into the "game". He has never played, he makes little money from his work and can barely support his family, and he is dying of leukemia. In short, he has almost nothing to lose. The money could help his family after he's gone, and the authorities would most likely never suspect a poor framer whose days are numbered.Reeves begins to solicit Trevvany, playing hard-sell. He even agrees to pay the cost for special tests and possible treatment with a leukemia specialist in Berlin. Trevvany eventually agrees and is pulled into the game. At first he believes that Reeves is the only one he knows who is involved. He regards Ripley as only an acquaintance in the Italian town. But then he discovers Ripley's "other life", unexpectedly.A fun-filled, dazzling, and no-hold's bar mystery-thriller. Ripley stories are essentially cerebral thrillers, a thinking-man's answer to characters like Anton Chigurh and the Terminator. Certainly blood is spilled and innocents die, but all under the watchful gaze of renaissance frescoes and statues. Ripley even knows the best places to acquire high-quality meat and wine. And he is gourmet cook in his own right. I think the main idea behind Ripley is to entertain. I don't believe there is any underlying meaning or theme in these stories, just Ripley and his very unique brand of crime, like a fine Merlot, 1996.

I rented this on video not having previously heard of it or knowing what to expect. After watching it, I'm still not sure what to make of it, as it's not an easy movie to categorize, but it was certainly entertaining.It boasts an original story, interesting characters, intelligent dialogue, fine actors, beautiful settings, and high production values.There's bits of black humour sprinkled throughout; kudos to John Malkovich for his performance, as I don't think another actor could've pulled off such subtle humour.There were a few plot holes near the end and I didn't buy the behaviour of some of the characters (like Trevanny's wife), but it wasn't enough to spoil the movie.I've been reading that this didn't get a proper theatrical release in the United States. That doesn't surprise me; if Hollywood was to allow anything good to appear on American theatre screens, audiences might start to notice just how rotten most of its productions are.