'The Thomas Crown Affair': 007 minus all the action
By Rayya Makarim
JAKARTA (JP): Those expecting to see gunfights and explosions, as many would when watching a John McTiernan film (Die Hard, Predator), will be surprised, if not disappointed, with the director's latest work, The Thomas Crown Affair. Pierce Brosnan, in the title role, possesses practically all of James Bond's attributes; he is suave, charming, witty and imperturbable. Essentially, The Thomas Crown Affair has Brosnan playing 007 without the action sequences. Not only is Brosnan's role a familiar one, but alert viewers may also experience deja vu because much of the same scenario is played out in Entrapment.
Thomas Crown is a wealthy businessman, in acquisitions, who is bored with life and finds amusement in art theft. With the help of a group of hired henchmen, Crown devises a brilliant plan to steal a Monet painting worth US$100 million from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (the MET) to add to his private collection. Rene Russo steps in as insurance agent Catherine Banning whose company stands to lose a lot of money if the painting is not retrieved. Cooperating with detective Michael McCann (Denis Leary), Banning, with her quick wit and elaborate collection of fur coats, promptly reduces the list of suspects to one: Thomas Crown. Her line of work includes using any means necessary to get the job done, even if it means getting friendly with the enemy.
Neither Banning nor Crown trust any one. The former has undoubtedly snared a string of men with her manipulative, sultry mind games. The latter, aside from having a ten-digit access code to his house, confesses to his shrink (Faye Dunaway) how he doesn't trust anyone, especially women. Nevertheless, it seems that Banning and Crown have met their match in one another as they propose the toast: "Here's to the fear of being trapped."
In Norman Jewison's 1968 original starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, it was clear that the relationship between the two characters was an exploration of erotic tension. Thirty years later, however, the eroticism appears to have lost its appeal. The Brosnan-Russo package just does not work. There is a lack of chemistry between the two actors. This might be true for a number of reasons: 1) Brosnan is allergic to the huge amount of make-up on Russo, 2) the camera is more interested in Russo's 45-year-old still attractive body or 3) the Indonesian censorship cuts, which are noticeable by the discontinuity in the soundtrack, are during the only sex scene in the film.
The casting of Rene Russo, who gives an unappealing performance, may have been a mistake. She offers sassiness at every opportunity. Unfortunately, there is no sex appeal, even when she is wearing next to nothing in a number of unmotivated topless scenes. The casting of Dennis Leary may also strike the audience as an odd choice. We usually expect Leary to offer some kind of comic relief, but here he is just an uninspiring, lonely, disheveled detective who doesn't really care much for art theft.
Another problem with the 1999 version is the directing. Accustomed to action flicks that thrive on extensive body counts, McTiernan is challenged by a story that puts forth human relationships instead of bloody gunfights, and vulnerability instead of heroic triumphs. His approach to the material is too careful, and as a result, the story unfolds in a dull manner. The pacing is slow and at certain moments the film stalls, almost at a complete halt, making the new version not very interesting.
Nonetheless, the caper scenes in the beginning and at the end of the film are exhilarating. The sequences are well plotted and designed, and most importantly ... fun. Artwork is used creatively as part of the art theft scenes. The beginning of the movie introduces a problem in the delivery department of the MET. Instead of a sarcophagus, they receive a Trojan Horse. As expected, during the night, three men emerge from inside the horse to embark on their mission. Another scene is a tribute to the Belgian painter, Reni Magritte, who is noted for works that contain the juxtaposition of ordinary objects and gives new meaning to them. An example in this particular film is The Great War, Magritte's painting of a faceless businessman with a bowler hat. This image is used in a climactic scene that will leave the audience baffled, but very impressed.
It seems that The Thomas Crown Affair attempts to blend action with romance -- a sophisticated action film, if you will. Unfortunately, the film has only two high points and that is when McTiernan is in his element: directing action scenes.