Enigma
8/15/2002
THRILLER
Color, R (mature themes, language, violence, sexual situations), 117 min., CC, VHS rental, DVD $27.98
Street: Sept. 24, Prebook: Sept. 3 (DVD Aug. 27)
First Run: L, April 2002, $3.4 mil.
Cast: Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible: 2), Kate Winslet (Titanic), Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park), Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea)
Director: Michael Apted
COLUMBIA
Story Line: In 1943, Tom Jericho (Scott), an expert at code-breaking, is brought back into the loop to decode secret German messages found by the Allies. Haunted by the disappearance of his lover Claire (Burrows) and investigated by a British secret agent (Northam), Jericho recruits Hester Wallace (Winslet), his girlfriend's ex-roommate, to help him crack the code and find Claire.
Bottom Line: Heavy hitters from in front of the screen and behind-the-scenes--inlcuding director Apted (The World is No Enough, Enough), producers Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels and scriptor Tom Stoppard (Brazil)----crafted this wartime cloak-and-dagger mystery. Although Enigma is an old--fashioned treat for fans of complex, lesiurely paced spy stories, it might prove to be a chore for younger audiences with shorter attention spans who are running to slam-bang suspensers such as XXX and The Sum of All Fears. Patience is rewarded to viewers who follow the labyrinth of maneuvers carried out by the edgy Scott, bookish Winslet and dapper Northam, and the care taken in production details make this critically well--received effort highly marketable for the home stand. --Irv Slifkin
BACK TO TOP |
