Tony Gilroy is best known for being the screenwriter of the "Bourne" franchise based on the espionage novels by Robert Ludlum. Those films are the post-millennium answer to the James Bond movies that have been in production since the early 1960s.
Gilroy's debut as a director came in 2007 with a different kind of suspense thriller. "Michael Clayton" had its share of espionage but was set in the corporate world. George Clooney in the title role was the "fixer" for a powerful law firm and was as cunning and ruthless as any agent involved in the cold war of days past or the ones at work now in the new global drama.
The screenplay was complicated and demanded attention, as does Gilroy's second effort as a director, "Duplicity."
While the similarities can't be ignored, there is a world of difference in the tone of the two films.
"Duplicity," while filled with action, intrigue and plot twists that rival a box of pretzels, is also a whole lot of fun. The dialogue provided to stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen is sassy and smart, and baby boomer fans of "Mad" magazine may be reminded of the classic cold war satire of "Spy vs. Spy." Movie buffs will be reminded of the classic screwball romantic comedies of the 1930s and '40s, and it's not a stretch to imagine this film - in that bygone era - with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the leading roles.
As the film opens - with two great, seemingly unconnected scenes - we meet CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Roberts) and British MI 6 agent Ray Koval (Owen). Ray uses some ridiculous pickup lines on Claire and thinks he's won the battle when he beds her. But, in the first of the many twists, we see that Claire didn't succumb to Ray's charms but rather ensnared him in her own well-thought, premeditated plan. She drugs him and steals a batch of top-secret documents in his custody.
Following that, we see Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson in a hilarious slow-motion battle on a tarmac surrounded by two corporate jets and a good number of corporate lackies.
As disparate as these scenes appear at first glance, they set up - in a tidy manner - the events that fill the rest of the story.
Gilroy uses a fractured narrative (a style that came to the fore after Quentin Tarantino used it to great effect in "Pulp Fiction") to weave his tale. At times it gets a bit confusing, but the viewer just needs to roll with it.
The film jumps ahead five years following the opening salvo and agents Claire and Ray are now working in the corporate world - still spies, but for big business instead of big governments.
Claire works for Burkett & Randle and Ray works for their corporate rival, Equikrom. These are huge personal product dynasties (think Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive) headed by the two men involved in fisticuffs in the intro.
These men absolutely hate each other and the secrets their companies guard require a team of espionage and counterespionage agents. Hence, Claire and Ray.
But not all is as it seems at any point in the film. Claire is actually a mole working for Equikrom, and Ray becomes her new handler. This may or may not be true on any or all levels.
In its fractured, non-linear time frame, we see flashbacks from after the couple's first encounter (some scenes are played more than once) and midway through the film many viewers will be scratching their heads.
But don't worry. In the end it all sort of makes sense, even if it will take a few days and a few hours of discussion with other people who have seen the film to decide what REALLY happened.
Gilroy makes use of international locales - from Rome to Dubai to ... Cleveland - a plot device that is a nod to the Bond jet-set era of spy movies.
"Duplicity" is a fun, engaging film, but what struck me the most was the new, more mature Julia Roberts. In her early forties now and having been absent from major roles of late (that shows good sense on her part, I believe), she is entering a second phase of her career that is likely to outshine her previous role as the young beauty/American sweetheart with the unmistakable lips. She wears her maturity well. Her fuller figure is becoming and she's never delivered better dialogue. It's an impressive debut of the new Roberts and will leave audiences looking forward to more of "Julia, the later years."[[In-content Ad]]
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
