A Perfect Murder

For Gwyneth Paltrow's 50th birthday, I found her as Michael Douglas' wife. A Perfect Murder was one of the films that eluded me for a long time, although I love thrillers with Douglas and here he plays a villain. But in their time, these films were a dime a dozen, but their pure uniqueness is now much more recognizable in retrospect. There's also the magical investigating Hercule Poirot, i.e., David Suchet as Mohamed Karaman, whom he plays with similar charm to his Belgian counterpart. The only problem is Viggo Mortensen's overly barren performance. (28/09/2022)

Pretty much a standard thriller in all respects, with virtually nothing to distinguish it. The script is quite interesting and full of various twists and turns, and the acting is quite good, though at two points Viggo didn't do it for me. The ending was horribly fast, rushed, and felt like the screenwriter had a heart attack while writing it and someone quickly finished it for him. Well, all in all, 3.5 stars. (02/07/2006)

An average thriller with an unsurprising and slightly predictable ending. Douglas, who can't act badly, is his standard good, Paltrow is pretty bland, and Viggo? The Aragorn fans will sure be happy. He’s cool, but I spent the whole film expecting he would vow and declare "You have my sword.":) (27/12/2002)

An incredibly captivating film with excellent lighting work, an outstanding screenplay, and flawless performances. I dare say that together with The Fugitive and Under Siege, it is the pinnacle of Andrew Davis's career. Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow create a very strong acting duo. The music is appropriately “thriller-like” and the gentle camera work is also good. There is no rushing, the film has a slower pace, but it’s not a problem. I can’t compare it with Hitchcock’s original, but as its own film, A Perfect Murder is truly almost perfect. Perhaps only Viggo Mortensen is hesitant and unconvincing at times, but he more than made up for it a few years later... (11/03/2006)

The cast of actors is the main and most important asset of this movie. But even though I had expected a good-quality thriller, what I got was a rather average story with which I am not surprised that it kept escaping me for all that time. The thing is that the actors had all made appearances in far better movies and this one is simply second class. On top of that, it really exudes this 1990’s feel, which doesn’t really amaze me anymore these days. (15/03/2017)