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Review by Jack Foley |
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Michael Douglas seems to have based a large part of his career on playing
angst-ridden males and in his latest thriller, Don't Say A Word, he reverts
to type.
Instead of playing off against deranged women (Fatal Attraction/Basic Instinct),
drug addicted daughters (Traffic) or
society as a whole (Falling Down), the actor here pits his wits against a
criminal mastermind who has kidnapped his daughter.
Douglas is a respected and highly successful psychologist who is coerced by
Sean Bean's bank robber into counselling a seriously disturbed patient (Brittany
Murphy) in the hope of finding a set of numbers locked in her head - numbers
which will reveal the hidden location of a jewel heist which took place 10
years earlier.
The catch is, Douglas has just eight hours to perform what, for most psychiatrists,
might take the better part of a lifetime.
Given that the premise requires a massive suspension of disbelief, it comes
as little surprise to report that Don't Say A Word is a pretty throwaway vehicle
for Douglas.
Despite its promising set up, the film quickly becomes a tiresome chase movie
in which character and plot get thrown by the wayside in favour of cheap thrills
and violent confrontations.
And try as he might, director Gary Fleder (of Things To Do In Denver When
You're Dead fame) cannot escape the feeling that this has been done before,
far better, in movies such as Mel Gibson's Ransom.
Performance-wise, Douglas is typically reliable, without ever really being
stretched, while Murphy shows signs of being a promising future talent, but
far too many of the remaining characters are under-used, especially Oliver
Platt's wasted turn as Douglas's friend and colleague, and Jennifer Esposito's
embarrassing attempt at a detective.
Bean's villain, even, starts out as a mastermind capable of the most ingenious
and calculated of crimes, but ends up coming across as a violent and, worse,
dim-witted, thug.
Viewers seeking an undemanding Friday night at the movies may draw something
from this formulaic nonsense, but those in search of something more are likely
to be very disappointed.
