Severely under-acted

Rating: 6/10 (8 September 2006)

It's really a pity that a movie with an interesting script twist, so rare in Hollywood, strong actors, beautiful costumes and landscapes is acted in such a disastrous way. Only Giamatti is above reproach, and Sewell does his part well, even though it's only 'black hat through-and-through'. Norton for some reason never even tries, maybe, cannot figure out what is it exactly that he's doing. The biggest problem are extras - somehow they all manage to speak in unnatural voices - as if they try very hard to emulate Austrians, but have no clue what those strange creature are supposed to sound like. Also keeping costs low makes "crowds" in Vienna ridiculously small - it's hard to believe that this "mob" of 40 people will storm precincts.
Again, a real pity given a promising plot...