A 21st century True Lies?

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2008)

Not quite, but it does share the same spirit  big guns, fast cars, cool gadgets, pretty people, and good fun. And ever so slightly bonkers.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the eponymous couple, and are the typical American suburbanites  live in a nice home, nice cars etc but seemingly their lives are in a rut. However they both have a secret from each other  they are both assassins, and working for rival companies. The rest of the plot writes itself so I won't regurgitate it here, but everything you can predict happen does.
But that is not to say that the film's predictability makes it boring. Quite the reverse, and while the plot twists are hardly on the level of Bryan Singer, Doug Liman never intends to make that kind of film. What he has put together is an incredibly slick and shiny film with all the veneer we have come to expect from the man behind the Bourne Franchise. Furthermore, the film was written with one thing in mind - entertainment, and it certainly delivers that. In the spirit of True Lies, the action in the film flows thick and fast but never seems to take itself too seriously, and it is obvious that the actors are enjoying their work, throwing everything into the action. The action is never anything more than barely believable, but to criticise this point is to miss the point entirely.
So what of the performance of Hollywood's latest 'First Couple'? Pitt and Jolie give slick performances and do well in the action scenes, but neither of them seem 100% comfortable with the tongue-in-cheek banter aspects of the film. Indeed, Pitt seems far more naturally relaxed interacting with co-worker Vince Vaughn rather than his (on and off-screen) wife. Given that this is the film where they reputedly began their love affair, this seems somewhat surprising  but then again, the gossip surrounding the production must have made for a slightly uncomfortable feeling on-set. This is not the taciturn but charismatic Pitt we came to admire in Seven and Fight Club, and perhaps it is the comedy that he is not keen on. Maybe he just did not want to be as hammy and corny as the great Arnie was in True Lies, and it is this which holds his performance back  caught between a desire to play it straight and the need to allow the comedy to come out a bit more.
However their performances are still more than adequate and contribute to a greatly enjoyable film. The guns, the gadgets, the fast cars and the attractive leads all add up to a good old action adventure for the twenty-first century. Just disengage the brain and don't think too hard and you'll be fine.