The Devil's Double Reviews

Ever since I saw 'Once Were Warriors' in the mid-90's, I had the greatest expectations for Lee Tamahori and I thought he would become a really great director. Unfortunately, even though this impressive debut managed to open the doors of Hollywood for him, his career has been rather disappointing ever since. Anyway, after almost 20 years, he was finally coming up with a very interesting project so I was really eager to check it out, even if it didn’t make many waves when it was released. Eventually, it was indeed a great story but, unfortunately, the movie was at best decent but nothing really great, I'm afraid. I mean, we shouldn't blame Dominic Cooper as the guy gave a really impressive double performance, managing to create two separate human beings. At the end of the day, the biggest mistake they made was to focus too much on Latif who was righteous but not really interesting when they should have focused more on Uday Hussein was clearly a depraved crazy and dangerous man. Or maybe they should have made sure that both characters were a little bit more balanced to create a more interesting dynamic. I also wonder how Ludivine Sagnier actually ended up in this movie as she was terribly miscast but the fact that her character was really poorly developed didn’t help either. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing was flawed, I still it was a terrific story and it is definitely worth a look.

Dominic Cooper does one of his best performances in the new film by Lee Tamahori (known for titles such as "Next" or "Die Another Day"). However, the film deflates territories in indecision. Being able to be an action film, it is not; may reflect a historical reality, leans a superficial view, having a product before a huge psychological burden, barely delves into the monster or victim.
"The Devil's Double" part of a real context. After the war between Iran and Iraq, Uday Hussein, one of Saddam's sons, decided to secure the services of a double, an ex-soldier named Laatif. Since then, Laatif is forced to follow the footsteps of a being unbalanced, sadistic, drug addict and manic.
The starting point was so promising. And in that line one is ready to receive the early stages of the film. The big first hurdle occurs Udai characterization as a mere puppet. We talk about a guy who caused terror on the randomness of their behavior, a real monster. A character of this type is expected to thrill, a real fear. Nothing is further from reality, we have a pathetic. No doubt that this is intended to provide an image politically interested. Even the evil can cause admiration and Tamahori decided subtract up to that attribute.
Cooper tries to compensate for this deficiency with great professionalism. The problem comes when the script is tight. The action fails. The psychological development does not appear. And what we found is a series of scenes that emphasize sexual obsessions (with minor assaults) and nonsensical violence.
The film seems to stop and repeated, emphasizing tell invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent war as if you were stupid.
The turning point comes late, with Laatif insubordination, leading to a disappointing simply closing stages (of lousy action movie).
Anyway, sorry that Tamahori did not opt ​​for any way decisively. The drama of that individual have to be twice a monster and Cooper's talent deserved better.