Susan Granger’s review of “UNDER SUSPICION” (Lions Gate Films)
Powerhouse performances propel this tense, gripping psychological thriller set amidst the carnivalesque festival of San Sebastian in Puerto Rico. Morgan Freeman plays a local police chief who summons a prominent tax attorney – that’s Gene Hackman – to his office for an interrogation prior to a gala fund-raising party that the attorney is hosting at a posh hotel across the street. There have been a series of grisly murders of young girls in the precinct and, for reasons that later become clear, Freeman suspects that Hackman is involved in the sordid scandal. But why Hackman, who lives in a magnificent villa with a sultry trophy-wife (Monica Bellucci) whom he describes as “a beautiful woman who moves through life unchallenged”? Yet, as Hackman nervously flicks his fancy cigarette lighter, there’s something suspicious about him, as a cocky young detective (Thomas Jane) repeatedly points out. And the ultra-courteous Freeman, who would like to be the next superintendent, cleverly reads the desperation in Hackman’s body language, maintaining that he’s only trying to clarify some details. Adapted by screenwriters Peter Iliff and Tom Provost from Claude Miller’s French cult classic, “Garde a Vue” (“The Inquisitor”), and directed by Stephen Hopkins (“Lost in Space,” “The Ghost and the Darkness”), the character-driven crime-mystery unfolds, revealing how both men have painful pasts filled with secrets and lies. “You peel my onion down to the nub,” admits Hackman. But the tedious repetition of the cross-questioning and the too-frequent flashbacks detract from the narrative, diluting its impact as the plot takes a dangerous, tortured twist. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Under Suspicion” is a disturbing 6, as deceptive as the costumes of the San Sebastian street carnival.
