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One of the best of the "new" Columbo adventures, which sees him cross swords with a relentlessly cocky and arrogant movie director who murders an old friend who discovers the truth behind his sister's death on a movie set some years before.

Fisher Stevens is undeniably excellent as the cold-heartedly manipulative and scheming Alex Brady whose empire is gradually eroded by the emergence of progressively incriminating circumstantial evidence. His increasingly antagonistic scenes with Falk are the main asset of the story and almost dispel the theory that you can't recapture the style and enjoyment of an original series by re-making it.

As is customary Columbo is "lucky" with some of his evidence (the shoe heel which gives Columbo the location of the murder being a case in point); but one can argue that his unwavering thoroughness entitles him to find the most unlikely things.

Another good thing in this adventure is that Columbo doesn't really have enough concrete evidence until the very end and even then the murderer is dismissive of Columbo's perceptions of proof.

One negative observation is Falk's portrayal of Columbo - it is decidedly more matter-of-fact nowadays, which is probably attributable to his age and the time-lapse between the old series and new series.

I liked this installment better than the first movie from '89 where the snobby villain was rather dull. At least here the villain, although a tad young, had some personality. I liked to watch his building frustration as Columbo tightened the noose. All in all, a better effort all around. I think i am figuring out why the original columbos were just better. Made in the '70s they had a certain style and simplicity thats maybe lacking in the newer films.....the newer versions try to do too much. Everything is a bit cheesier, even the music. Funny but the "newer" episodes seem more dated to me than the older stuff. And i am, so far, missing the big name villains. I am hoping the episode with Faye Dunaway will rectify this. However, as always, i enjoy Peter Falk. He remains as good as ever. Best moment: columbo shows his incredible deduction skills to the viewer and the villain during an early scene where Columbo can tell so much from 2 left over ice cream sodas. It's right up there with vintage Columbo. Secondly, the scene where Columbo literally hangs in the air scanning a movie set. His dislike of heights is known from vintage episodes.

Alex Bradey is a successful young director having gone from young auteur to studio daringly in a few short pictures. He has retained his sense of fun and childlike pleasure in cinema but all this seems threatened by the reappearance of old friend Leonard Fisher. Fisher has uncovered film that shows that Leonard's sister died during a stunt gone wrong for Alex and not on an accident on the way to the set as Alex had claimed. He plans to expose Alex but the director cannot allow this to happen and kills his friend – dumping the body on the beach with the face and fingerprints removed. A book on Bradey's films dropped near the scene leads Columbo to his door though, looking to solve the strange connections that are bugging him.

As with many TV film series (such as Perry Mason), if you like one or two of them then you'll pretty much like them all. This entry in the Columbo series pretty much follows the usual formula – we know the killer and the "perfect" plan but then watch Columbo follow his hunch and gradually starts to pick holes in the story he is told before eventually finding enough to prove his suspicions. Knowing this ahead of time won't ruin anything for you; it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. Having had my fingers burnt with my first "new" Columbo, I wasn't sure if I should bother going back or should just rewatch the original series from the seventies, but I thought that the formula can't be that hard to pull off and figured that it was worth another pass. With this film I was pleased to find that it went back to basics by having a simple cat/mouse game with Columbo learning stuff in a new world. The connection to Alex is a bit of a stretch at first but the film copes with it well and manages to smoothly move into the formula.

The mystery is not that impressive but the delivery is good nonetheless. The characters are pretty good and the lead two work well together. Falk isn't as good as he was in the 1970's but he is better here than the other new episodes I have seen recently. He doesn't do the comedy as well as he can but he plays well enough with the mystery to make it work. Stevens is nowhere near the class of the 1970's guests but he is pretty enjoyable in a reasonable reference to Spielberg. He isn't that strong but he works well with Falk. The support cast are OK but nothing more than that, so the film wisely leaves them mostly in the background and focuses on the lead two.

Not a great Columbo film then and certainly not up to the standard of the original series' but it is one of the better "new" films. The focus on formula plays to the strength of the series and limits the amount of misjudged clutter that it has. Fans will like it – new viewers should skip back about 15 years to find out what all the fuss was about.

One of the better entries in the second Colombo series. As usual Colombo stumbles into an unfamiliar universe in which his adversary condescends to him and underestimates his skills. In this instance, the heavy is Alex Brady (Fisher Stevens), a Spielberg figure, a young, cocky, talented, film director who electrocutes an old friend who's discovered a skeleton in Stevens' closet. Colombo solves the mystery with the help of his brains and a nearly miraculous dose of good luck. (Walking alone on a deserted set at Universal, he happens to step on a heel that turns out to be a crucial clue.)

It provides a good deal of expectable fun. So why isn't it as satisfying as the entries from the 1970s?

One reason is that Falk is 20 years older than when he started out. It's not his fault that he's aged, God knows, yet it's depressing, even though he was never an actor whose appeal rested on youthful good looks. It's a little like looking in the mirror with your 30th birthday somewhere behind you.

Second, Falk approaches the role differently. In the 1970s he was usually distracted. He frowned while concentrating, rarely smiled except with embarrassment. His eyes darted about. His speech may have been full of hesitation but his intuitions were accurate and lightning fast.

But he has changed. It's as one critic wrote of the return of Sherlock Holmes, after Conan Doyle's failed attempt to knock him off and get rid of him, "he was never quite the same man." His movements have slowed, his gestures have become more expansive, his smile has become practically a fixed grin regardless of the situation, and his voice is patronizing and patient, as if he were telling a fairy story to a couple of kids. Whereas before he seemed genuinely bemused, he now seems overly pleasant and phony.

The plot is interesting enough, up to most Colombo standards, but its execution suggests a sort of desperation to do something novel with the episode. We'll skip over the small implausibilities. (Colombo walks into a sound stage and knows how to operate the equipment.) The ending almost makes one cringe. Colombo has outwitted -- I guess that's the word -- Stevens by surrounding him in public places with police officers in wardrobe and makeup, playing the parts of waitresses, and whatnot, although what that has accomplished is a little slippery to the grasp. The role-playing cops are introduced to Stevens with a spotlight, one by one, dressed for their parts, and they take bows, while the score lapses into fanfares. It's a trick the 70s episodes would not have pulled, nor would they have had to pull it.

Stevens is pretty good as the arrogant young murderer. Steven Hill is there, briefly, as a producer. The best performance is by Nan Martin as the secretary, Rose, although her part too is a small one.

You can never recapture the past, as they say, but this entry in the later series is far ahead of some of the others. Some were unbearable.

This Columbo has everything that you'd expect from a good Columbo: great dialogue, a bright murderer who only makes a few tiny mistakes and a wonderful setting (a movie studio) which adds interesting metaphores and storylines. Columbo is getting older, but not worse, and I enjoyed watching this from the beginning to the end.