A Perfect Murder [DVD] [1998]

undefined

Product Description ------------------- Remake of Hitchcock's 'Dial M for Murder' (1954). The marriage of UN administrator Emily Taylor (Gwyneth Paltrow) and bond dealer Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) is not a happy one. For some months Emily has been having an affair with struggling artist David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), unaware that Steven knows all about it. In fact, Steven knows more about David's past than Emily - he has discovered that her lover is in fact an ex-convict who makes money from wealthy women. Steven thus sets in motion an elaborate murder plot, deliberately making David's acquaintance and then paying him to kill Emily. .co.uk Review ------------- The husband (Michael Douglas) is a currency trader whose portfolio value is going right down the drain. The wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the heiress to a $100 million fortune. The marriage is not a happy one, but the promise of long-term affluence keeps them together. The wife pursues an affair with an artist (Viggo Mortenson) who gives her all the passion she doesn't get at home, and when the husband finds out, well ... someone's going to pay with their life. Who will the unlucky one be? We wouldn't dare spoil the elegant plot twists of this devious thriller, but it's well known that Douglas excels at portraying greedy characters with ice in their veins. Here, it's easy to assume that Douglas has pulled off, as the title implies, a killing that nobody will ever pin on him. But this is the kind of glossy thriller (loosely inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder) that delights in disrupting your expectations, so it grabs your attention right up to the final scene. It's a bit too cold really to draw you in but with its able cast and stylish direction by Andrew Davis, this less-than-perfect murder thriller is still definitely worth a look. --Jeff Shannon, .com