The Double (2011)

Thanks for the memories!

Lack of good storyline.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Probably the worst film I've seen in over a decade. Completely pointless it being madeIts a cold war thriller brought up to date, clumsily constructed around a double twist.It is appallingly written - the plot makes little sense and has plot hole after plot hole. Characters make correct conclussions from almost no evidence and seem to stumble from one leap of faith to another. Sometimes new storylines just pop into existence with no, or almost no, origin. Dialogue is cliche after cliche, lifted from cold war thrillers made when the cold war was still on 30 years ago. The storyline is confused and muddiedIt has no redeeming features - the writing is poor, the directing is poor, the acting is poorOn a personal level, I found the pronunciation of 'Cash-us' really annoying. Is it an Americanism? I think the rest of the world says 'Kass-eus'

Shouting is acting, the macho cast of this man-film seem to think.Richard Gere is astonishingly wooden, especially during the token Russian dialogue. The sound, script, direction and pacing is straight out of every other bore-snore CIA film - I was astonished to find this was made in 2011, albeit Gere's silver fox looks are a giveaway - it feels like it could have been just as dull in 1985.Weak-willed and expendable female characters, and some of the most insincere lines I've ever heard in cinema. Predictable fist-fights, tired gunfights, wrote car chases.I might start calling him Gere the insincere.

one illogical twist after another. especially the end : Ben Geary (Topher Grace) has been waiting for 10 years to kill Cassius, so why doesn't he kill him when he's right in front of him and has a gun in his hand to do it? And does he think the Russians will allow him (sleeper / Russian agent) to remain with his American family? no way! And why doesn't he tell Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) the truth? That Gere = Cassius and Bozlovski = also an assassin, just a different one. And that Bozlovski (Tamer Hassan) killed Gere's wife and son in 1988. Apparently, it is easy to lie to the head of CIA as well as FBI. You even get a job proposal! By the way, why would a CIA agent have more field-work than an FBI agent? Usually, it is the other way around. Another illogicality. And another thing : why would an assassin (Richard Gere) live out the rest of his life in the same town/vicinity, where the most CIA and FBI agents are around (headquarters)? Maybe I see more crazy issues than there are, blurred by seeing so many crazy issues.

Ouch, what a setback I thought a film with Richard Gere as a retired secret agent might well be interesting. That was the first half hour. When I saw T. Grace, I didn't recognize him immediately , and then it hit me. He used to play in "That '70s Show". At that time he already looked sluggish and dull. In this movie it also seemed as if he would fall asleep any time. This part totally didn't suit him.The plot being revealed so early is something new. But then it all crumbles down and at the end you get a totally unexpected twist. The only thing is, it's totally unbelievable. The heroic fight at the end between Gere and Tamer Hassan was kind of entertaining, but when suddenly Gere crawls along Grace and almost immediately passes away, I was like, "Yep, come on". What a silly theater.A spy / thriller with a great start, a surprisingly early disclosure and then a downward flight to an anticlimax. One positive thing : it was fun to see Martin Sheen playing again.More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/