Verdict
Summary
From filmmaker Anand Tucker, The Critic offers a compelling plot and some solid performances, particularly by McKellen who perfectly embodies the amoral, self-centered, and selfish character he portrays. His seasoned, knowing subtleties are the film’s greatest assets, but this is not really a thriller so much as a character study in dramatic repose.
Plot:
A theater critic resorts to murder to keep his good standing at a prestigious newspaper in pre-World War II London.
Review:
In pre-World War II London, theater critic Jimmy Erskine (Ian McKellen) has been a mainstay at a prestigious newspaper for forty years, but when the newspaper’s owner dies and his son David (Mark Strong) inherits the paper, a new mandate goes out that the paper will be tightening its belt and putting some writers on notice. Jimmy is one of those whose jobs is on the line: David doesn’t like his bitter tone in his reviews and he also doesn’t approve of Jimmy’s proclivities for homosexual relationships. When Jimmy’s probation ends in disaster with an arrest after being caught doing something indecent in public, he’s fired. To reclaim his job he hatches a scheme: He makes a shady deal with a theater actress (played by Gemma Arterton) where he’ll write glowing praises for her work (which he’s not known for) if she’ll seduce David, who’s married, and sleep with him so that he can blackmail him later. When his plan works, David has no choice but to hire Jimmy back on the paper with a raise, no less, but then David commits suicide when he realizes that his own son (played by Ben Barnes) is also sleeping with the actress. This throws the entire dynamic of Jimmy’s scheme out of balance because the actress can’t handle the guilt and threatens to go to the paper with what she knows about Jimmy’s entire blackmailing idea. When Jimmy crosses another line by silencing the actress, it seems he might get away with everything, but there’s one loose end he didn’t count on …
From filmmaker Anand Tucker, The Critic offers a compelling plot and some solid performances, particularly by McKellen who perfectly embodies the amoral, self-centered, and selfish character he portrays. His seasoned, knowing subtleties are the film’s greatest assets, but this is not really a thriller so much as a character study in dramatic repose. It’s based on a novel called “Curtain Call” by Anthony Quinn, and it feels very much engineered with a carefully balanced structure, and Tucker’s hand is assured and confident. Craig Armstrong did the score.
The DVD for The Critic is out the first week of December, and comes with a behind the scenes feature, and trailers.
