...but is that really an accomplishment?
This is what happens when Playboy makes a movie tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. Sure there's no fight on the faces of Mount Rushmore nor bird attacks, but there is wrong man theme, anxiety, obsession with women, staircases, starbursts, and twist after twist after twist. Plus you know if it's by Playboy there must be some nudity!
It's interesting to note the similarities to Hitchcock's "Vertigo". A man becomes obsessed with a woman, and then finds out that she's either non-existent or dead. He then encounters a woman who looks exactly like her. Of course this is the same woman... or is it. You have to wait until the last two minutes to know the whole truth (as part of an epilogue that has about thirty twists in it). The movie is not independent from its true inspiration.
The writing is outstanding at parts, and choppy at other times. This could be the fault of the actors (I hesitate to call them actors), and the directing (which does some interesting things with the camera but fail to tell a decent story). I wouldn't mind seeing a better made remake down the road.
Also, I imagine it is hard to please the two populations that will watch this movie. The Hitch lovers will be annoyed by the presence of unnecessary overdone sex scenes, and the Playboy fanatics will wonder why there are scenes involving people talking. There seems to be at least two different visions going on here.
"Midnight Blue" takes brains and brawn and tries to put them together in one smart sexy movie. They fail but it's good to know they tried.
