The Two Faces of January

source: The Two Faces of January

The Two Faces Of January is a bit of a weird film. The cast was talented enough with both Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac giving good performances, and Kristen Dunst was good for what the role required of her. But even with this cast it very often felt like it was not sure what kind of movie it wanted to be. It had a kinda lovers on the lamb kind of feel, and then at many points reminded me of other better films, such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, only with much less suspense to it. The story itself is very slow paced and even when it goes somewhere it doesn't really seem to go anywhere, or, at least that's how it feels. and then the third act is really fast paced but still fairly dull. Overall I really would not recommend this unless you are die hard Viggo Mortensen fans, or love looking at mostly brown and grey scenery. 2.5 Beards Out Of 5

this film is a boring story in a boring setup. maybe on this planet are human beings who like this kind of film, i don't like it and ended after 25 min with a forward scroll. I'm not interested in the end. and now i do some important things :) the actors are bad and the fictive Greece of the 60s is strange, it looks like there are 2 persons who speak English. the chars are extreme weak, i cant believe any of the scenes in this film. too much proper. people who want a good live with the money of other people aren't afraid of 1 private detective and murder is a option too get i n better position, no reason too get drunk all day and terrify the wife. in real he makes a plan to get out of there and is not afraid to get his passport back because of a stranger who sites maybe in the hotel lobby. he will try everything to get save out of there and no risk is too much after you cheat on dangerous people :)

A local con-man helps out a couple who get in trouble on holiday in Athens in 1962. Stars Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst. The actors are first rate. However, the film is slow (but tense) and actually not hugely exciting. The style reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock.

A thoroughly decent movie that respects the audience. Some great locations, mostly in Athens. It's a three-hander, and in retrospect the chemistry between the three of them could have got under the skin a bit more, rather like in Knife in the Water. As with Patricia Highsmith's other works, a key theme is male one-upmanship but it doesn't play out here quite the way it ought to, especially with the final pay-off, which is nonetheless quite satisfying. Nothing wrong with any of the performances, and the twists and turns of the plot work well, but if you can't really sympathise too much with the characters, the director ought to have a more mischievous style perhaps, rather like Hitchcock of course. So this is a film that won't wind you up much, but won't ruffle your feathers either.

I spent an entertaining evening. The story and the atmosphere in this film is well adapted. I felt to be in the scenes and this drama took me definitely on higher levels. Thanks to the actors Viggo Mortensen and especially Isaac gave this thriller a great face. I was never bored and there were many nice locations and turns that let you all the time guessing what came next. It's some sort of Hitchcock and therefore I would recommend you also to see the masterpieces of him. The picture quality was too bright here for me. I like if it's full colored. The music was typical 60ies that was just perfect tuned. Again congratulations to Mortensen who is one of my favorite actor. I am curious to see Isaac in another good movie. Final rating: 6/10.

I really wanted to like this seeing it was a Highsmith novel, great cast, beautiful locales and gorgeous photography. But the director and screenwriter wanted to film a suspense movie without any suspense. Every thrill is telegraphed, no tension, no tricky storyline..just a straight forward, boring at times, direct to video b-film. Jeez if they just watched a Hitchcock film they could have aced this. Unfortunately, it just lumbers along and then....there went that one and a half hour of your life. Worth a watch cause it does "look" good and if you're not paying for it, nevertheless in the end you'll be disappointed.

Saw at the end it's based on a novel written by a woman. Not surprising. It's a movie about working through father difficulties in the guise of a thriller. Thus the absence of plot twists. But it makes the rôle of the central female character kinda Freudian-creepy.

The movie had promise at the beginning and as I was watching I thought of possible twists and turns here and there, but nothing really elaborate transpired. The movie stayed on a steady and predictable plot line with increasingly weak, subpar drama. No real thrills or suspense, just TV movie drama at best. Another reviewer called it a Shallow Thriller which is correct. No oomph.