Uma Forma de Assassinato

Eddie Marsan is great, as always. Jessica Biel is miscast. Storyline is disjointed and far fetched. I would say this is 1958 or 1959 - not the 60's as stated in the synopsis. Patrick Wilson tries hard to make it all believable but it's not enough to carry the film.

A Kind of Murder, based on Patricia Highsmith's book The Blunderer, is a great looking set piece, a 1950's murder mystery, but it somehow feels kind of bland. The problem is lack of character development and an emphasis on style over substance. Stylistically, the film is beautiful, from the sets to the costumes to the great old cars. But Patrick Wilson, as the architect and part time mystery writer Walter Stackhouse, turns in a rather flat performance, so we don't really feel moved by his dilemma. Eddie Marsen, on the other hand, is suitably creepy as a seeming psychopath (did he actually kill his wife? No spoilers here). Jessica Biel, as Stackhouse's neurotic, suicidal wife Clara, is two dimensional. So are Haley Bennett as Wilson's illicit girlfriend and Vincent Kartheiser as the homicide detective on the case. Much of the dialogue is stilted and unrealistic. The mystery itself is intriguing enough (Hitchcock could have done wonders with this story), but the screenplay fails to make us care about the characters. Nevertheless, it keeps you watching, mainly because Highsmith was such a good writer. For a movie that is so focused on period, there is one major gaffe: In the nightclub scene, the drummer is playing a modern set of drums. I'm a musician, and I spotted it immediately. Director Andy Goddard should have been paying attention. An oversight like this suggests that he wasn't seriously vested in the film and was just collecting a paycheck. The film is not a disaster or even a failure; it's just not totally successful. Stream it for a mindless popcorn night.

I wasn't that interested in this film in the first 10 minutes, then I realised that Patrick Wilson was acting quite well, the direction was good and the sets were totally authentic. The story whilst nothing new or exciting was solid enough, and by about half way there I was well into it. Who dunnit, why did they, are they gonna get caught, I was having a drink and thoroughly enjoying it until the end. Yeah the end just came, out of the blue, from nowhere. And not only that, but it left me wondering, what the heck happened then? Who did what and why? The biggest anti climax in a very long time. I gave it 4 stars but that really was for the great acting from Wilson and Marsan, and the excellent filming. It's lucky to get that tbh because of the way it abruptly came to an end.

I enjoy a good noir and a good whodunit but this one does not deliver. The 60s vibe is cool, the melodramatic Jessica Beal is OK, Patrick Wilson is believable, and Eddie Marsan is great. It's just that the story gets too complicated and drags after the first 30 min. The last 10 are especially confusing

I've become a real fan of Patrick Wilson in recent years. He's put his name to a lot of quality movies. Sadly, this is not of them. There was an idea that could have worked somewhere in the mix here, but it just got bogged down under an immensely boring story. The period the film is set in, the characters and the bland dialogue all do nothing more than put you to sleep.

The film does pick up the pace a touch in the final third, but by then it's too late. Most have already switched off and those that haven't no longer care. The mystery side of things is poorly conceived as well. Thing's that we are meant to be curious about we already know the answer to, and things that we might genuinely care to know are never answered.

'A Kind of Murder' is a very bleak experience that achieves nothing it sets out to. How a film with the word "murder" in the title can ever turn out quite so boring I'm not sure, but this one manages it. Nothing to see here, watch some of Wilson's other fantastic work from previous years instead.