Friday 29 July 2011

Rocket-powered thriller


The US reviews for The Devil's Double are now in. Here's a selection of choice quotes:

"The dual aspect of Mr. Cooper's performance is immensely enjoyable, and the film, directed by Lee Tamahori — from Michael Thomas's adaptation of an autobiographical book by Mr. Yahia — leaves no doubt about Uday's vileness. Its star creates a new pinup for the gallery of human perversion, a coke-snorting psychopath with a piping voice who fairly vibrates with delight at the depth of his own depravity."
-The Wall Street Journal

"The film’s evocations of the traditions of Scarface and The Sopranos are neither accidental nor inappropriate. The Husseins did resemble a classic Hollywood crime family — or at least that is how they appear in the 1980s and ’90s, when the movie takes place."
- The New York Times

"The life story of Latif Yahia, body double to Saddam Hussein's diabolically unhinged son Uday, makes for slick action-movie fodder in The Devil's Double, a rocket-powered thriller rife with scenery chewing and fast-and-loose revisionism that could, by dint of sheer sensationalism, break the Iraq movie curse and rack up some serious B.O. around the world. More Scarface than House of Saddam, director Lee Tamahori's gangster-style treatment veritably blisters with tension as reluctant decoy Latif comes to fill the void of Uday's nonexistent conscience, playing front-row witness to the tyrant's insatiable cruelty."
- Variety

"An urgent desire to take a long shower is an appropriate response to watching The Devil’s Double, so unsavory is the experience of being immersed in the world of Saddam Hussein’s Caligula-like son Uday and his double, Latif Yahia."
-The Hollywood Reporter

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