Chameleon

I caught this one late night after work on some cable channel and was literally riveted to the sofa. The performances, especially LaPaglia and Pollack, were very good. The plot leaves a little to be desired but the overall story more than makes up for the lulls (very few, at that) in the action. If you have a chance, SEE THIS FILM. You won't be disappointed.

This film is acceptable as a 'B' feature thriller movie. Unfortunately the script, though witty in parts, needs attention - e.g. over use of 'deus ex machina' devices. The direction is generally unimaginative and at times clichéd - i.e. in the 'third act' the bad guy is seen getting out of his car camera angled from feet upwards. This is a well-worn tired technique aimed at instilling a sense of foreboding, it no longer works and hasn't for many years now. The premise of the story however is interesting and as usual Mr LaPaglia is a joy to watch though as a Brit I would question his English accent. As the character of Will Serling relaxes into his English role-playing the accent I have to admit does greatly improve. Perhaps this was intentional. I suspect that this film was never anything more than a potboiler for all those taking part. Any LaPaglia fan will certainly enjoy it to a fair degree, but don't expect anything wonderful. Of a similar period in his career I would rather point eager LaPaglia fans towards the low-budget film 'Killer' - this film, I believe, will more than satisfy them in all they desire to see of the aforesaid wonderful actor.

Years after he had a breakdown as a result of his wife and kid being murdered by mob hit-man Cortessi, undercover agent Willie Sterling is back on the job. With a leak in the department and leads taking him nowhere, Matt Gianni approaches colleague Stuart Langston to get Sterling to go back undercover to trace drugs money from the cocaine business in a jail, through a crooked bank up all the way to the head of the snake. However Gianni becomes increasingly worried about Sterling losing himself in his multiple identities.

I saw this film a few years ago but never reviewed it at the time, so I decided to watch it again to refresh my opinion. The plot is an average undercover story with a revenge element thrown in for good measure. Once this has been going for a while it also throws in CIA conspiracy, mental breakdown and a romance subplot into the mix. Suffice to say that what comes out is a very strange beast indeed. As a result the story becomes messy quite quickly and is very unlikely from start to finish – a finish that you will be able to predict about an hour before it occurs as well. However what makes the material better than it is, is a couple of good performances, mostly from the lead actor.

You can see why LaPaglia signed for this – he must have seen the clichéd script but seen the chance to show off his ability. While he is good, the script damages his impact and I have seen him do better work – maybe this could serve as his promo reel? On top of his good performance keeping me watching I also though Pollack was quirky and enjoyable (and benefited from not taking the film too seriously at any point). They may not add much more than recognisable faces but the cast also includes Knight, Hardin and Romano, not to mention a superb F. Abraham Murray impression by Amendola.

Overall this is an average film at best, but mostly it is a poor one. The plot, script and characters are pretty nondescript and the film doesn't really do anything with any of the threads that it hints at. Luckily LaPaglia seems to be enjoying himself and it's almost worth seeing for an actor trying to make the best of his part in a poor film.

I actually watched this film based on the recommendations of those who've commented here. It was just starting on BBC1 and, as I happened to be online at the time, I thought I'd check out what had been written here on IMDb. I'm glad I did as they convinced me to watch the film.

Whilst it's plot reads like your typical, cop-looking-for-revenge-B-movie that normally gets shown in the early hours of the morning to fill time, this plot is made watchable by tour-de-force performance from Anthony LaPaglia. He plays a undercover cop searching for revenge who's so good at being other people that he's losing his grip on who he is. LaPaglia slips effortlessly from character to character, sometimes within scenes you can see him taking on the characteristic of others. His English accent is well done, and I believe if you were to just see the scenes where he's seducing Jill Hallman, you'd simply assume you were watching a Hugh Grant style romance, except LaPaglia is infinitely more charming in my opinion.

Another performance of note is Kevin Pollack's. He gives a solid performance and makes a good foil to LaPaglia. Against these two, everyone else just seems to fade into the background.

Of course, there are problems with the film. If you analyse the plot for 5 minutes, it would probably all fall apart. Also, the film feels dated before its time, looking a few years older than it's 1995 release date would suggest. But these are by-the-by things for me personally as I enjoyed the performances so much.

Finally, for anyone interested in similar subject matter, I would highly recommend the 'Human Target' comic books written by Peter Milligan for DC comics.

I really don't get the low rating of this, it's a pretty good movie in which Anthony La Paglia plays an undercover agent whom assumes the identity of many persona's (hence the title '' The chameleon'' ) yrs after his wife is murdered by a mob Hitman, we also get to see the mental effect that this takes on him over extended periods of time of him playing these characters in his desperation to track this hitman down.

May not be the ground breaking but one of if not may favourite 90's thrillers in which is hugely boosted by La Paglia & Co's performances.