Riplay's game (2002). Contains spoilers.

[Neville]

The more I watch thrillers, the more I can do without the thriller elements. Probably that's one of the reasons why I enjoyed this one, because it focuses more in character development than in the crime plot. This film is a sequel of "The talented Mr. Ripley" and reveals an older Ripley (John Malkovich) who lives in France and has become an art dealer. His pride is hurt when a local villager mocks his taste for art in a party, and when an old partner asks Ripley for a hired gun, Ripley suggests the name of the villager, who suffers from a fatal disease. As I said, this movie relies more on character development than on the plot, and the performances by Malkovich, Ray Winstone (Ripley's old partner) and Dougray Scott (the villager) are very good. The Ripley portrayed by Malkovich is easily the best I've ever seen on the screen. The remorse and pain he felt in "The talented Mr. Ripley" are long gone, and what is left is an extremely intelligent, completely amoral criminal that shares very little with a human being. He is almost pure evil, and his touch seems to infect every situation he is in or every character he meets. At one point, he says: "You know the most interesting thing about doing something terrible? That after a few days, you can't even remember it. "
 


*Spoiler space* Don't read on if you haven't seen the film or read the novel by Patricia Highsmith.








Even at the end, when he is allowed to survive thanks to another character's humanity, his reaction is more of amusement than of real surprise or gratefulness. Ripley is indeed a monster, and it is the achievement of Malkovich and the filmmakers that his figure remains, at the same time, both belivable and human.



Post Edited (02-14-04 06:42)

[Max Gardner]

This is reassuring.  I hated the film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, primarily because it bastardized a chilling story about an amoral, monstrous, emotionless machine of a human being and turned the whole thing emotional and pretentious.  I'm hoping the director of the sequel does not make Anthony Mingella's mistake.  (I despise Minghella's films; The English Patient deserves a review on this website).

[Neville]

I didn't have such problems with "The talented...". I think Minghella did a very good job (I share your despise for "The English..." as well, but read the book and you'll understand how a difficult adapation it was) with it. It has a completely different taste than "Riplay's game", but this also happens with Highsmith's novels on Ripley. While the first on feels warm and emotional, "Ripley's game" presents a different setting and a Ripley that has hardened enough to become a distilled, pure evil.

From what you say in your post, I'm sure you won't have any problem with this other film, since the Ripley it presents suits better your ideas on the character.