Under Suspicion

reviewed by Dave

Under Suspicion is a prime example of a filmmaking truism also recently seen in, of all places, the new Star Wars trilogy. It goes something like this: you can put out a decent movie with a bad director if you hire enough veteran actors who need no direction, but it still won't achieve the same level of excellence it could reach with a good director.

Director Steven Hopkins is in over his head here, but if you are at all a fan of Gene Hackman or Morgan Freeman (as I am), you should check out Under Suspicion. Despite the film's other flaws, it really is enjoyable to watch these two veteran actors at work. In the hands of a more competent director, this could have been great instead of quite good.

Hackman is the seemingly upstanding citizen being investigated by police captain Freeman for a series of murders. Monica Bellucci plays Hackman's very young wife. Her acting basically consists of having an accent. I suppose it would be a little intimidating to play opposite these two, but there's only so much slack I'll give for that. There's also the small role of a bad cop that tries to antagonize Hackman's character into admitting guilt. It's so marginal that I'm not even going to bother looking up the actor's name at IMDB, but you can if you want.

Under Suspicion feels like a play - most of the action takes place in just a few rooms at the police station. A better director would have realized that a script like that calls for careful direction and a sense of how to convey emotion.

Honestly, I can't figure out why the director of Lost in Space, one of the worst big-budget movies of all time, is behind the helm of a movie like this. Hopkins has made bad B-movies (like Blown Away), he drove a potentially-huge franchise into the ground at the start (again, Lost in Space), and now he's proven he can't handle directing a character-driven story with veteran actors. Can we all just agree he needs to stop making movies?

Despite Hopkins, Hackman and Freeman make Under Suspicion worth checking out if you feel like a decent character-driven drama. Just go in knowing that it could have been better, and don't hold out hope for a great ending.