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- Verified Buyer
The above succinctly could summarize the slick cat and mouse game that ensues between Catherine Banning and Thomas Crown in a stylishly, visually stunning remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. For those looking for a couple hours of pure escapism and enjoyment for adults over 30, this is it.As has already been said in many reviews, Pierce Brosnan assumes the role Steve McQueen made famous in 1968. It is quickly established that Crown is wealthy, handsome, powerful...and bored. So, with his sharp intellect, he sets about stealing a priceless painting -- just so he can feel the rush. Pierce Brosnan plays Crown as very dashing and low key...and it works here, especially because of the game. For him to show too much would be to tip his hand, so Crown keeps his pursuer, Catherine, on her toes as she both tries to pin the crime on him -- and avoid falling under a spell that she finds appealing in spite of herself which, in the end, makes it all the more fascinating to see her try to trip him up at various turns. As many others have noted, it is less cat and mouse than smart and smarter cat, and it is fascinating to watch them tangle -- physically, intellectually, and emotionally -- as the stakes seem to intensify in terms of job vs. romance.Rene Russo is wonderful as Catherine Banning. While Faye Dunaway's Vicky Anderson was considered strong for her time in the 1968 version, she still seemed too "mushy" in the end, too "heart on her sleeve". Catherine in the 1999 version, though, picked up where Vicky left off and yes, heresy to purists, I'm sure, improved on Vicky's strengths and toned down the other stuff. Catherine is strong, worldly, fiesty, and has a take no prisoners attitude that is occasionally (and subtley) allowed to be offset by vulnerability and softness. Overall, however, Catherine is, as Faye Dunaway's [Vicky in 1968's "TCA"] therapist character notes in the film, a mirror image of Thomas. And this allows for the complication of Catherine being drawn into Thomas, first as a suspect but ultimately as someone she is fascinated by and could all too easily love.I will not give away the ending...but I never knew the use of a simple bowler hat could be so clever, and use a painting with one as a nice inside joke. John McTiernan was a man who knew how to use cinematography to his film's advantage, and it shows. It is colorful, sharp, and slick...the perfect counterpart to the leads.Still, before I end this, I must give major props to Denis Leary. Before viewing this, all I knew him as was an acidic, tart comic with an edge. But as Detective Michael McCann, he goes toe to toe with Russo and succeeds brilliantly. McCann is also a jaded man, a New York City cop, but he also has a sense of intelligence just as the leads do, and he is genuinely likeable and downright droll. You can't help but root for him in spite of his target...and the fact that he seems to also have a tiny crush on Catherine makes this game even more "twisty", and the end result is somewhat bittersweet.Thankfully, this movie's romance is with two adults of the same generation and not some 40ish-year-old man going after a 20-something babe in tight clothes. The fact that it is sexy, slzzling, and even tender proves that chemistry does not have to die once your 30s are through! Russo and Brosnan sparkled!I highly recommend buying the DVD. This is a film you'll want to view more than once.
