Fatal Honeymoon (2012)
*** (out of 4)
Good made-for-television take on the murder case brought against Gabe Watson (Billy Miller) whose wife Tina (Amber Clayton) drowned while on their honeymoon. The husband's story is that the wife simply sank to the bottom of the ocean but her father (Harvey Keitel) believes that the husband cut off her oxygen supply so that he could get her life insurance. FATAL HONEYMOON is yet another true story brought to us by Lifetime and this one here manages to be quite good thanks in large part to some terrific performances. For the most part the film plays it straight meaning that it never really says Gabe is innocent or guilty. I think the "facts" of the case are so mysterious that it's hard to tell a story one way or the other but at the same time the film had no problems showing Gabe to be a complete jerk so the viewer will certainly have their own opinion on whether he was guilty or not. The film does a very good job at bouncing back and forth with all of the events from the time the two met, to their wedding and eventually their honeymoon, which would leave the wife dead. The film also did a good job showing the events from the grieving father who will stop at nothing to find out what really happened. As I said earlier, the performances are what makes this film work so well. Miller is downright chilling in his role and he's certainly one of the most memorable cold-blooded "killers" I've seen from one of these fact-based dramas. The way Miller plays the coldness is quite memorable. Keitel is also extremely good in the role of the father even though you really don't expect to see someone like him in a movie like this. I thought the actor was quite strong in the scenes where he's trying to find out what happened but also quite touching during the scenes where he's grieving for his daughter. Clayton is also good in her role, although the screenplay really doesn't give her much to do than play the victim. FATAL HONEYMOON features some nice cinematography, a good music score and overall it does a nice job in telling its story.
