Ripley's Game

I have always liked John Malkovich as an actor, and this has the added bonus of Ray Winstone being in it also. Ripley's Game is a hard film to describe. Ripley (Malkovich) a retired dodgy geezer living in a picturesque Italian village, helps fellow dodgy geezer Reeves (Winstone) out by offering up an annoying neighbour (Dougray Scott) as a potential hit man. Said neighbour does the hit, but doesn't want to do a second one and Ripley feels a bit bad at this and decides to help him out and it all goes a bit tits up. This is way over-simplifying it but it is a good film to be captivated by Malkovich's on screen presence and charisma, making the normally charismatic Winstone look like a wet fish. The setting and Malkovich's house are splendid, the story less so, but it is not bad. The film is not fast paced (it wouldn't suit it if it was) so can seem to drag at times.

6.5/10