Fatale

Slow start turns into an absorbing thriller with a different end. Worth a view.

The casting was kind of odd and Hilary Swank was not at her best. The story was interesting enough to finish the movie. It was not the most original and had some plot holes, but it was better than most of the reviews would let on.

Successful sports agent Derrick Tyler (Michael Ealy) is getting married. He's brought to Vegas for a last day of bachelor freedom. He's disinterested until he meets Val (Hilary Swank). He lies and they have a fling. He leaves her to go back to his life in L. A. Someone breaks into his home and almost kills him. The police arrives and detective Val Quinlan turns out to be his Val from Vegas.

A cheating guy is hard to root for. The movie is trying to get the audience to empathize but I have no sympathy. Then the movie gets complicated. Val has personal drama. There are complications everywhere. The premise starts losing the thread. They are trying to do a Strangers on a Train plot but they are nowhere clever enough. Val's final move is unnecessary and ultimately makes no sense. This is a plot getting away from the writer's grasp. It has the lurid undertones but it becomes more gloss than grit. There could be something here if it could clean up some of the junk.

This is a good drama. Though the story is plain and easily guessed, it is still engaging.

Is it a great story? No. Is the acting awesome? Not really. Then why 6 stars? Because I found the entire thing pretty entertaining. While parts of the story were pretty easy to figure out early on, there were some twists which I found interesting enough to make this a better movie than others thought it was.