The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
Wow! Matt Damon was awesome and of course Jude Law & Gwyneth were made to play these characters. The entire movie was wonderful start to finish. The scenery was magnificient! I will watch this movie over and over again. You never know what to expect on this thrill ride! Really enjoyable.

RIPLEY'S 'BELIEVE IT OR NOT'
It would take pages to adequately describe this highly imaginative, provocative film.Suffice to say what this reviewer sees is an excellent piece of work by Law and Damon. augmented by a good supporting cast.Damon certainly gets more than he bargained for in trying to bring the fun loving, bi- sexual Law back to New York to see his reputable father. Damon becomes homosexuallly engaged with Law, a man who's already lost a drowned, pregnant mistress and is now engaged to Paltrow. All of Damon's tricks-imitations, false flattery, blatant lying- go for naught as Law reveals that Damon is little more than a bore,a hanger onner with no depth.A fight breaks out and Damon kills Law, and later Law's friend from Princeton, who's able to see right through Damon. A third murder is barely averted by chance and the police are closing in when Law's father arrives from New York with full evidence of his son's past guilt and odd behavior, thus setting Damon free with some of Law's inheritance.Free to live a life of guilt,loneliness, and suspicion of Paltrow, Law's former fiance'. It's a movie well worth seeing, even though one finds it a bit confusing at times.

The discomforting Mr. Ripley
This film - like the others directed by the brilliant Anthony Minghella - manages yet again to crawl under one's skin of comfort, and creates brooding emotions of empathy and revolt.

Tom Ripley - like most of the others - is a very complex character: the idealist genius with the non-ideal background, yearning for more. As a simple lie pulls him into the world of the rich and glamorous, he finds himself trapped by the intoxication of this faux success, as he mentioned to his lover with tears streaming from his anguished face: it's better to be a fake somebody, than a real nobody. It eventually leads to murder upon murder, as Tom cannot escape his yearning for acknowledgement.

Matt Damon portays Mr. Ripley beautifully as he quietly 'dies' behind a mask of happiness. The supporting cast is excellent, and the boat-scene between Damon and Law being grippingly brilliant.

Yet again - choosing his old time favourite - Minghella chooses Gabriel Yared to score the film, and it finishes off 'Mr. Ripley' with emotional style.

Although not an easy film to watch, it remains one of my favourites.