Watch it at Amazon
This is an odd film. The first hour sets up Matt Damon's character, "Tom Ripley," to do what he eventually does, kill someone and then imitate the rich kid off in Europe. However, to be fair, his murder of friend "Dickie Greenleaf" (Jude Law) is almost made to look like self-defense. It's an odd scene in this odd movie. As the story unfolds, however, "Ripley" is shown to be a sick killer, hardly some innocent man caught in some self-defense predicament.The second half of the film deals with Damon's character trying to get away with his scheme while other people slowly start to question who he is and what he's doing. Some people trust him; some don't. A few twists make the story even more interesting. The only facet that didn't appeal to me were the overt homosexual overtones in this film which were prevalent throughout Damon's relationships with a couple of men, although nothing sexually was ever done and even though these guys also had girlfriends. Speaking of the latter, Gwyneth Paltrow is good in here as "Marge Sherwood," someone who is ahead of the pack when it comes to uncovering the truth. Cate Blanchett is good, too, as usual, but her role was much smaller and one I'm not sure was all about.Overall, this is intriguing drama-crime story with a lot of suspense and done so without a lot of violence. All the characters in this movie grab your attention. Combine that with good European scenery and involving storyline and you have a movie worth investigating.I read where this film also goes under the title, "The Strange Mr. Ripley." Strange, indeed.
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
