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Under Suspicion More at IMDbPro »

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25 out of 27 people found the following review useful:

A Film That Needs To Be Checked Out Twice

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States
7 July 2006

This is one of those decent crime movies that few people have heard about. It has a lot going for it. I should rate it higher since the story kept my interest all the way both times I saw it (four years apart). The violence and profanity are not overdone, the main characters are very interesting and the story finishes with a unique twist.

Actually, that twist is something you have to ponder to determine whether it makes sense. I am not sure it did. You'd have to watch this again soon and check on a few things. It's either very clever or its totally unfair to the viewer, which is why I kept it at an '8."

It's nicely photographed and I bet it looks much better on a widescreen DVD than on the tape I viewed it on in the '90s. Liam Neeson and Laura San Giacomo star. I was familiar with the latter from the film, "Quigley Down Under." She's much more appealing in that film than this one. Neeson is almost always interesting to watch.

16 out of 19 people found the following review useful:

a sadly under-rated and unknown film

Author: tjackson24 from charlotte nc, usa
30 August 2001

i want to give a STRONG plug for this very fine film that has received almost no acclaim. if you enjoy cinematic plot twists and suspense, sexuality and greed, but not blood and guts, this is a film you should see. when i say it keeps you guessing up till the last minute, i mean just that. art, money, sex, mistresses, wives, good cops, bad cops, murder! got it all-give it a try.

11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:

Wonderful film

Author: blanche-2 from United States
31 March 2007

Liam Neeson is "Under Suspicion" for murdering his wife and a client in this 1991 little known film also starring Laura San Giacomo. This is one of those films one rents and all too rarely realizes that they have found an unsung treasure.

Set in England in 1959-60, Neeson plays an police officer, Tony Aaron. While on assignment with his partner Frank guarding the home of a wealthy man who is out of town, Tony takes time out to have a dalliance with the owner's wife. In the fray that erupts when he's nearly caught by her husband, another officer is killed. Tony is pressured to resign and when he leaves, he only has one friend left - his partner Frank. Tony becomes a low-life private detective who helps clients fake adultery in order to have grounds for divorce. To do this, Tony uses his own wife, Hazel, the woman of the above dalliance, as the "other woman." One night, he does the usual thing of entering the hotel room with a camera and surprising the client and Hazel in bed when he discovers that both have been brutally murdered. He immediately becomes a suspect, though he trails along with his ex-partner during the investigation and discovers some other suspects - not only who had a reason to knock off the artist, but who had plenty of reason to frame Tony for the crime.

This is a very well produced and directed film with brilliant construction. The detail in evoking the atmosphere of the late '50s is wonderful, and if there were ever a film that deserved a "best costumes" nomination for an Oscar, this is it.

The acting is all around very good, with a good deal of the film's budget going to Liam Neeson, who back then was a prolific actor two years from superstardom. Neeson is terrific as a loser who has made one mistake after another so that a noose around his neck seems appropriate. Yet there's something likable about him, and earnest, too, so that the audience feels that though he may not have been able to keep his pants zipped, at heart he's not a bad guy. Laura San Giacomo, who has enjoyed an okay film career but is now best known for her work in the TV series "Just Shoot Me" is very effective as the mysterious mistress whom Tony suspects may have had something to do with her boyfriend's murder. Kenneth Cranham, a very familiar face in British productions, is excellent as Tony's loyal ex-partner, who risks his own job protecting his friend. An absolutely gorgeous woman, Alphonsia Emmanuel, plays Stasio's wife and does a good job in a role that, were she not so beautiful, would probably not have been noticed.

Any film that has me yelling out loud at the screen at 3 a.m. is a good movie in my book. That's the level of suspense that "Under Suspicion" has - if you have a weak heart, take medication first. It's absolutely thrilling.

13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:

one of the best films I've ever seen!

Author: ivana2804 from Belgrade, Serbia
17 February 2002

This is the best erotic thriller ever! (Although I have to warn you, don't expect too many sex scenes here- it definitely is an erotic thriller, but that's more to do with the story, atmosphere and tension between the main characters.)

A dark, gritty British thriller full of suspense, it's miles away from the rubbish like 'Basic Instinct' etc. Here you have a convincing story, three-dimensional characters whose motivations are believable, and it plays with film noir conventions and viewers' expectations -managing to pull the MOST UNEXPECTED PLOT TWIST EVER in the end! I was fooled, as I'm sure everyone who's ever watched it!

And also when you watch it again, knowing what actually happened, you can see that everything makes sense, there are no plot holes here. It's a very good story about ambition, betrayal and love.

I just want to add- Simon Moore (who also wrote '10th Kingdom') is a genius!!

11 out of 16 people found the following review useful:

British Whodunit at its best.

Author: Sebastian B. from Sweden
19 February 2002

A bit of a confusing start of this perfect whodunit is the only bad thing about this film.

To start with the script, it´s brilliant. It is credible, well written,has clues that makes it worth watching over and over again (even without the surprises that you encounter the first time you watch it). I like the fact that this is not a Hollywood production. I seriously do not think that this script would have made it to production without some changes if it was made in hollywood.

Then the acting. Liam Neeson puts on a splendid performance, complex acting with certain subtle things that I did not notice the first viewing, which made sense while watching it again. His best film IMO (knowing that a lot of people thinks that "Schindler´s list" is better). I do not recognize the rest of the actors, but no one did bad.

Grade: 9 out of 10

So if you like suspense whodunit, this is a must see.

12 out of 18 people found the following review useful:

Clever crime film with good cast.

Author: MayhapsItWasGoodBackThen from ImpossibleToPleaseThirtySumthings
24 August 1999

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Since this movie is a crime thriller, I don't want to spoil your fun by revealing any facts.

I think Liam Neeson is very charismatic actor and he's done some great movies and I'd like to consider this to be well made and acted as well. Sometimes Neeson just ends up in the wrong movies. Dark Man for instance would've been terrible if it hadn't been saved by Neeson's melancholic and anguished performance. But this film is not a failure. In the movies he so commonly portrays a man who's weak and strong. Good and bad. It's somehow so human. You can feel that same thing in this particular movie too.

English atmosphere always makes films look more intelligent if compared to those made in Hollywood. ;) Maybe it's largely due to a fact that what foreign films lack in production costs they gain in realism. And realism is always a good thing.

I must confess that at least I got thoroughly fooled by this movie. I didn't realize the plot until it was revealed to me because not in any point of the film I ever even considered that as a one possible scenario. Man, I felt dumb but in some way I also felt betrayed since I genuinely felt sympathy for the wrong person. I just kept on waiting for the bad guy to show up when it had been there all along. ;)

Check this out. I found it very clever and full of good actors.

11 out of 17 people found the following review useful:

Nice Made for TV movie

Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico, USA
27 February 2003

I don't know if this story really belongs on the big screen. It would have been fine as an HBO special or something. However, the performers are better than one would expect in such a venue.

Liam Neeson is so likable, a tall hulking actor, he seems to loom over whatever scene he appears in. And what a face! His skull seems to have no glabella whatever, his nose droops down out of the middle of his forehead, and yet he's handsome too, in a plain, masculine way, kind of like Spencer Tracy -- no glamor boy, but easy to look at. His voice too is appealing, with its Irish grace notes. And he can act too! Unlike so many brutishly big action stars, this guy can project a smelly sweaty fear, and do it without seeming ridiculous or seeming any weaker than the rest of us would be.

Laura San Giacomo is an apt mismatch for Neeson. Here, in this tale set in 1959, her face is wide and her expressive eyes long and thin. She wears so much makeup she's funereally pale and her Chinese red lip rouge suggests a figure from a Dracula movie. She's tiny standing next to Neeson. His presence makes her look even more elfin, as if he could crunch one of her long bones in his fist. She has a smooth and seductive voice that doesn't sound quite believable. It's hard to forget she's acting. But it doesn't detract from her attractivness. She seems never to have found her proper niche in films; neither, for that matter, has Neeson. They both deserve better than they've gotten, with some exceptions.

The plot is about a couple of murders, a near hanging, a strained friendship, a love affair or two, shots ring out, you're not supposed to carry an unlicensed gun in Britain, can I really trust him/her?, and all together has more twists to it than a corkscrew. Towards the end there is an execution scene that is very crudely done but intensely gripping all the same. (The crosscuts are dizzying.)

I won't give away the ending. Ordinarily the resolution of the plot isn't really as important as what's led up to it, but in this case the end is the best part of the film, or at least the most surprising.

Watching this movie wasn't a waste of time. But, Great Merciful Heavens, I'll never go to Brighton on holiday.

7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

Clever thriller

Author: Andres Rais from Buenos Aires, Argentina
30 July 2004

Very well acted and filmed this clever, agile suspense thriller won't let you down because of the reason that the intrigue will not allow to switch off your video of DVD player. The place: England, late 50's. The topic: laws of divorce. Adultery. Just take a photograph for evidence. This was forged in order to oblige the spouse to divorce. You only have to find the lover. Tony Aaron (Neeson) was the man who used his wife to simulate adultery. But she will die with a powerful man. The man's misterious lover (Laura San Giacomo) gets in between the case. A battle will start for Aaron to prove that his innocence. Suspense till the end. I rate this movie 9 out 10. Andres.

6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:

fine piece of work

Author: jl-10 from Israel
14 December 2000

one of the finest in it's genre - the script, the concept, the direction, the acting, the suspense - just great. Highly recommended and turn off the phone, sit back and enjoy it all. And then after you have digested it all, you'll want to make another bowl of popcorn and watch it all over again, just to see what you missed.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

Neo-noir delivers the goods in a tightly plotted story

Author: msroz from United States
24 March 2012

This neo-noir is definitely worthwhile. I could see no plot holes and I think it will stand up under repeated viewings. Liam Neeson does a superb job that few other actors could handle for this particular role and story. The plot and the characters in the story mesh quite well.

There is a little bit of "time limit" suspense toward the end that doesn't feel altogether right, but extremely few movies are without defects. Otherwise, the entire effort is handled very capably. Production values are very good.

I read no reviews before seeing the movie, other than a few words saying that it was a noir and underrated, both of which it is. That's the best way of seeing it, without knowing anything about it, and so I am saying the minimum. I view it as a suspenseful mystery-crime noir with procedural detective elements. It is not a thriller.

If you get a chance, check it out.

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