I'm a big fan of the novels of Patricia Highsmith. In the Ripley-series (5 novels) Tom Ripley is as charming as Highsmith's other (anti-)heroes, but he's also a psychopath in the "best" sense of the word: highly intelligent and totally void of any conscience. Another important feature is the unobtrusive way in which Ripley manages all his schemes: he's the quintessential boy-next-door whom no-one suspects of anything bad.
Now when you want a scrupulous rendering of Highsmith's novel to the screen, this movie fails. The script did use Highsmith's premise (the forgery of an already dead painter's work and how master-mind Ripley and his accomplices get away with it) but then gave it all kinds of twists and turns of its own. Here Tom can hardly be called an unobtrusive boy-next-door, he's actually a very sexy stunner (at many times he walks around shirtless to show-off his chiseled torso!), an active and sensual lady's man, which the original Ripley is very much NOT, in fact there are countless gay innuendo's in all of the Ripley-novels.
Anyway, as a movie in its own right it's fine enough. This Ripley is a very self-confident, ruthless and charming con-man who sets up a smart scheme of fraud and murder and wriggles his way into the bed and the wealth of a beautiful woman. The pace is fast, and besides action and suspense there's also lots of humor (which is definitely NOT Highsmithian by the way). Maybe that could have used some better editing, at times it's almost too much of a comedy (like the scene where Tom has to clean the blood of two giant white poodles after a killing).
The acting is overall very good, I especially liked Allan Cumming as the exasperated priggish gallery-owner. WIlliam Dafoe's name is prominently on the cover of the DVD, but he only has very limited screen-time. Tom Wilkinson as the intelligent adversary of Tom Ripley did a fine job, as well as Ian Hart as the misguided and abused Bernard, although I was a bit distracted by the idiotic hair-do they made him wear (a wig, I hope!). This leaves Barry Pepper as Tom Ripley. Now you wouldn't call him really handsome, but he has these remarkable features that are classical and rugged at the same time (an exciting combination!), he's charismatic, very physical, and plays the intelligent con-man with much flair and obvious fun.
All in all: I liked it, not as a Highsmith, but as a fine and entertaining movie in its own right.
Now when you want a scrupulous rendering of Highsmith's novel to the screen, this movie fails. The script did use Highsmith's premise (the forgery of an already dead painter's work and how master-mind Ripley and his accomplices get away with it) but then gave it all kinds of twists and turns of its own. Here Tom can hardly be called an unobtrusive boy-next-door, he's actually a very sexy stunner (at many times he walks around shirtless to show-off his chiseled torso!), an active and sensual lady's man, which the original Ripley is very much NOT, in fact there are countless gay innuendo's in all of the Ripley-novels.
Anyway, as a movie in its own right it's fine enough. This Ripley is a very self-confident, ruthless and charming con-man who sets up a smart scheme of fraud and murder and wriggles his way into the bed and the wealth of a beautiful woman. The pace is fast, and besides action and suspense there's also lots of humor (which is definitely NOT Highsmithian by the way). Maybe that could have used some better editing, at times it's almost too much of a comedy (like the scene where Tom has to clean the blood of two giant white poodles after a killing).
The acting is overall very good, I especially liked Allan Cumming as the exasperated priggish gallery-owner. WIlliam Dafoe's name is prominently on the cover of the DVD, but he only has very limited screen-time. Tom Wilkinson as the intelligent adversary of Tom Ripley did a fine job, as well as Ian Hart as the misguided and abused Bernard, although I was a bit distracted by the idiotic hair-do they made him wear (a wig, I hope!). This leaves Barry Pepper as Tom Ripley. Now you wouldn't call him really handsome, but he has these remarkable features that are classical and rugged at the same time (an exciting combination!), he's charismatic, very physical, and plays the intelligent con-man with much flair and obvious fun.
All in all: I liked it, not as a Highsmith, but as a fine and entertaining movie in its own right.