The Double is a brand new straight to video (forgive me, I forgot what the PC term is these days) movie with an all star cast and high quality production values. These days don’t be scared of the StV tag, embrace it. The Double is an espionage mystery with twists turns and beautiful settings that are not in exotic locations.
If you like spy films, The Double is worth giving a shot. In it Richard Gere is Paul Shepherdson a former CIA Spook who is called back into duty after the mysterious death of a Senator who had ties to Russian business interest. Twenty years ago Shepherdson was on the hunt of a group of notorious cold war Russian assassins called the Cassius Seven. He killed all of them but the head of the organization.
With the death of the Senator, the FBI calls him in to go on the hunt for this allusive killer again. Along for the ride is the fresh faced, never been in the field before, Topher Grace (Agent Ben Geary) who happens to be obsessed with catching Cassius.
Director/Writer Michael Brandt does a nice job of building tension throughout the entire movie and gives old man Gere some action man chops. All of his action scenes are well staged and not as elaborate as you would expect from a guy who wrote movies like 3:10 To Yuma and Wanted.
Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball shot the hell out of this movie. There’s a gorgeous opening shot of migrant workers crossing over to America. It’s infused with a bright sun hitting yellow clothing that gives everything a nice golden hue or halo affect. Then later in the film, there are some really gorgeous shots of Washington, DC and some of the indoor scenes are really sharp and clear. This movie is actually pretty nice reference quality work that highlights the best aspects of Blu-ray‘s audio and picture capabilities.
Warning this Trailer Contains Major Spoilers!
The problem with the movie is it gives away the “mystery” within the first 10 minutes. Now granted, if I just watched the trailer I would have known that X is Cassius. So clearly writers Brandt and Derek Haas really were not trying to create a real mystery thriller, they just wanted to make a action “thriller.” Not only was X Cassius, but every 15 or 20 minutes he felt it necessary to tell someone else. So really the movie isn’t meant to let the audience guess, the only question is when will everyone else find out.
Then there’s another twist at the end of the movie that comes completely out of the blue that left me going “What the hell?” It seemed like a completely pointless curve ball because it was never hinted at and ultimately does not end up mattering to anything. The actors in this movie all do a good job, I like Gere as the desperate grizzled old vet who kicks ass. But I never got Topher Grace. He always comes across as sort of charisma free.
There is not much to say about the Blu-ray release. The picture quality is superb but completely lacking in extras. The only ones included is a full length commentary track with Brant and Haas and a short feature with Richard Gere talking about his part.
I enjoyed this movie for what it is. It’s a movie that’s well worth renting, but at the high cost of Blu-rays, I don’t think this is a must own Blu-ray.
Final Grade B-