Review: The Two Faces Of January

I do not usually get intrigued by something like this when going to the cinema.
But I felt the people involved with this got me wanting to know the story.

Based on a novel by the same writer who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley, it was obvious that we were going to get something similar to that.

Already five minutes in and I could already see some interesting characters with troubled pasts.
As the plot was thickening, the intensity of the story and the environment of their surroundings was making it a tense watch.
There were clever twist and turns, but also some predictable ones. Thankfully, in the final act I did not lose its way and I felt it was a satisfying ending that completed the story nicely.

After being screenwriter for films such as Drive, I felt debut director Hossein Amini proved that he can continue to show off his film-making skills without just writing the script.
He definitely presented with some complex characters, made the whole experience thrilling, presented us with tremendous landscapes with blended nicely with the intensity of the plot.

As for the performances, Viggo Mortensen was a big asset in the film. With a troubled figure to play, I felt constantly interested with what he was going to do next. Oscar Isaac's role in this interested me the most after seeing him in Inside Llewyn Davis. He bounced off Mortensen really well and I can see him grabbing a few awards in the future. The more I see him, I get even more excited for his role in the new Star Wars film.
As for Kirsten Dunst, it was going to be pretty hard battling with Mortensen and Isaac whilst on-screen. But I feel she played her part to the fullest and gave us a nice mix of character development.

Overall, I felt it a pleasant viewing. The plot and general tone of it may be unoriginal, but it does all the right things that a thriller should be. It was puzzling, it had suspense and some nice twists. But like I said, it gets marked down for being unoriginal and too generic. Sadly the performances of all the main characters was a big plus and I feel Amini did a great job as director. His choices of location really added to the suspense levels.
There is obvious rooms for improvement. But if anyone made this as their debut as director, then I would give him praise and be on the look out for his next project.

Rating: 7/10