A Kind of Murder (2016)
In 1960s New York, Walter Stackhouse is a rich, successful architect and unhappily married to the beautiful but damaged Clara. His desire to be free of her feeds his obsession with Kimmel, a man suspected of brutally murdering his own wife. When Walter and Kimmel's lives become dangerously intertwined, a ruthless police detective becomes convinced he has found the murderer. But as the lines blur between innocence and intent, who, in fact, is the real killer?
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Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
I enjoy a good noir and a good whodunit but this one does not deliver. The 60s vibe is cool, the melodramatic Jessica Beal is OK, Patrick Wilson is believable, and Eddie Marsan is great. It's just that the story gets too complicated and drags after the first 30 min. The last 10 are especially confusing
The makers of this plotty, glossy thriller have based their work on an excellent, dark novel by Patricia Highsmith. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't even come close to representing Highsmith's carefully constructed murky little world. The main problem - apart from the over-egged art direction and false, icon-ridden recreation of the mid-1950s - is the characterisations. In Highsmith's original, the main character of Walter (Patrick Wilson, on good form) and his relationship with his neurotic wife, Clara (Jessica Biel, lost) is complex and fascinating. As is the relationship between Walter and his new amour, Ellie (in the book she's a modest, sincere music teacher; in the movie she's a phoney hipster, singer). The movie relationships are diluted to the simplest terms, as though this were a trailer for what they could be. The most sinister character ( well-portrayed by Eddie Marsan), Walter Kimmel, is simply sinister without any exploration of his relationships with anyone else or his view of the world. Most of Highsmith's plot is intact, but rather than moan on about this travesty, I suggest you read the book, "The Blunderer", it's excellent on so many levels.
Thrillers made prior to circa 1970 often began with a "hook" of some kind, followed shortly thereafter by an unspeakable event. The story would only gradually unfold in which the viewer has no idea the who, the what, the how, the pieces of the puzzle only fitting into place at great effort. Think of the Maltese Falcon: a beautiful woman enters into the detective offices of Sam Spade and Miles Archer, claiming she's trying to find her sister who has been supposedly abducted. Shortly thereafter, Archer is murdered. In "A King of Murder", based on a story by the mystery-suspense writer Patricia Highsmith, famous for her Ripley novels, there's a similar form.At the beginning of the film, we learn that the wife of a reclusive antiquarian bookseller, Marty Kimell (Eddie Marsan) has been murdered. We don't see the murder, but mainly hear about it through a newspaper clipping extracted from a newspaper by Walter Stackhouse, a prominent architect. The case is being investigated by Detective Lawrence Corby (Vincent Kartheiser of Mad Men fame). Then we're brought to the other story-line thread. Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) seems to have everything someone in the upper middle-class could desire: a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and a promising career as an architect and a short story writer. Except, his relationship with his wife, Clara (Jessica Biel), is on the rocks because of a dwindled sex life. At one of their lavish parties Stackhouse meets Elli, and he triangulates to fulfill his sexual needs. He also visits the bookshop owned by the husband of the murdered woman.Clara's impotence worsens and so does her psychological instability. At the same time, the case of the murdered woman seems to be going nowhere. Eventually, Clara's mother is reported to be dying, and Clara leaves on a bus to go to her bedside. Stackhouse follows her but then returns home. Later, we learn Clara never arrived at her mother's. She was found dead under a bridge about half-way between her home and her mother's. Was it suicide or murder? Stackhouse is questioned by Corby who starts to believe there may be a link between Stackhouse, his dead wife, and the other murdered woman. When questioned about whether he knew about the other case, Stackhouse lies and says he's never heard of it, and claims he has never met the widower. Corby begins to question Stackhouse's claims. Will he be caught in his lies and therefore become a prime suspect in the death of his wife? A thoroughly enjoyable and biting suspense-thriller which has its roots in many of the noir films directed by Howard Hawks and John Huston. A positive reviewer quote states that the film would have made Hitchcock proud, but this is much more of a throw-back to adaptions of novels by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. "A Kind of Murder" is very gritty, similar to the "b-films" of Old Hollywood, such as "The Maltese Falcon", "Laura", and "The Big Sleep". And the climactic ending is not what you would expect from most of these kinds of films today.
it should be good if it was 60 years ago it can be damn good if it was 80 years ago But today in 2017.. it for nothing.very good acting decoration, costumes. love those cars(unfortunately, can't afford most of them in 2017))). music look like just stolen from old movies BUT IMHO John Woo can make such movie with all fact included in 4 seconds))) it's another internet generation and when you make such movie most watchers feel that you stole at list 1:30 hr from 1:35:29