Duplicity Review

Duplicity

Starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts

Directed by Tony Gilroy for Universal Pictures

Many people think Clive Owen should've been the new Bond instead of Daniel Craig, and I can see why. He's a smooth talker who can do action scenes. Duplicity, while short on the action, is still proof that the man really could pull a bit of that off. With more espionage films, Clive Owen could prove to be a wise choice for a successor.

But wait, an espionage film without much action, you say?

Well, Duplicity is a bit of a convoluted story that centers on two spies who repeatedly cross paths during missions. Clive Owen plays a former MI6 agent named Ray while Julia Roberts plays a former CIA agent named Claire. The two plan to get hired into the two biggest sanitary market competitors Equikrom and Burkett and Randle respectively, and they're determined to get the big bucks by stealing information from each other. What is revealed is an even bigger plot that will confound and surprise many.

It's not a thriller, but there are thrills. It's not an action movie, but you come out of the film feeling intense. It's not a romantic comedy, but a semblance of that same formula is there. What is it, then?

Let's just say it's a smartly written spy movie.

Empowered by the perfect execution of a great screenplay, the film's two main actors are a treat to see on screen because they possess such surprisingly great chemistry. Every sentence that comes out of their mouth is delightfully filled with a certain zest that makes each sequence they are in that much more exciting. True, the timeline can get a bit jarring if you're not keeping track, but it's nothing impossible to follow.

Paul Giamatti, however, is made to look too much like a caricature, but then again, this movie was meant to probably be an extremely light take on corporate espionage, and only Gilroy can pull it off with such panache!

There will be people who will hate the non-linear progression of the movie, but I personally like the way they just present the story in flashbacks because if the movie was made in the regular old style, it would bog the movie down to a crawl.

It's fast-paced, well-written, and delightfully acted. A really entertaining movie that while lacking in action, is charmingly funny and fast-paced with the charisma of the stars oozing out the screen. It's just sheer fun.

Rating: 8/10