Film Review: "Side Effects" Actually a Thrilling Thriller

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 12 February 2013 12:57

Written by Matt Oakes

With Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven) hasn't reinvented the thriller, he's just breathed life back into a fading genre. What begins as an ambiguous tale of a struggling romance morphs into a pulsing question mark whose greatest strengths lie within it's ability to create suspense and uncertainty. 

Since the twists and turns are vital to your general enjoyment of the film, I want to carefully navigate to ensure that nothing here is too telling. All you really need to know is that the story opens with Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) reuniting with her husband Channing Tatum (Magic Mike) and from there delves quickly and fervently into the world of psychiatry and prescription pills.

Filling out the cast we have Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes) playing a psychiatrist struggling with a puzzle of a patient. He has a great little character arc that is handled with subtle panache, pulling a muted transformation in the most understated of ways. His new client puts him in contact with a fellow colleague played by Catherine Zeta Jones (The Mask of Zorro) who has an unwritten history with Law's patient. Although we don't see Jones that often on screen anymore, she shows that she's still gotta talent within her 40-something sex appeal.

All four of the principal characters are putting their all in here and I'd expect nothing less under the lead of Soderbergh. He has a crisp, clear direction and a really deliberate framing. All of his shots are captured with concise precision. Nothing here feels left to chance as little bits of foreshadowing are dug intricately into the scenery for those watching with a careful eye.

Soderbergh has talked at length about how he felt Side Effects was the natural progression of the thriller which he asserts have died out in the past few decades. To a degree, he's right. As an audience, we're not accustom to the suspense builders than dominated the silver screen of the 80's and 90's and so something like Side Effects is a pleasant throwback.

In the same vein though, it fails to really transcend the trappings of the genre and provide anything groundbreaking. And while you can applaud it's level of self restraint, both within the acting and directing field, it just doesn't have the staying power of films that transcend their genres. While it truly is a completely competent and very well acted, nothing here feels new or remarkable. It's a great suspense thriller just not a genuinely great movie.

There's enough backstabbing, lies, betrayals and revelations to keep Side Effects taut and the audience on the edge of their seats. It's a rare thriller that manages to deliver on the thrills and much like the thrillers of the 80's and 90's it will keep you engaged for it's run-time but is unlikely to stay with you long after.

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