A United States senator has been murdered. CIA chief Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) believes a mysterious Russian assassin, code name ‘Cassius,’ long thought dead by the agency is responsible. He calls in former agent Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) to supervise the case as he knows more about Cassius than any living person. Teamed with a young FBI agent, Ben Geary (Topher Grace), the pair are immediately at odds how to best solve this mystery, each becoming increasingly suspicious of the other as truths are revealed and long buried secrets start seeing the light of day.

CRITIQUE

The central twist of The Double is not that Richard Gere’s character Paul Shepherdson is also the cunning Russian assassin Cassius; that turn of events is revealed in the first 15-20 minutes and is also unveiled in the film’s own theatrical trailer. No, there are other, far more evolved and intricate twists at play in co-screenwriter (once again working with Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma partner Derek Haas) Michael Brandt’s directorial debut. One part 3 Days of the Condor, another No Way Out, the film is a multilayered tease that that toys with the viewer and plays on their genre preconceptions, everything building to the type of climax that in theory should leave audiences both thrilled and gasping for air in almost equal measure.

Problem is The Double isn’t smart enough or intelligently plotted to be able to pull off the majority if its aspirations. At its best, it is nothing more than a completely constructed, and admittedly extremely well shot by the great Jeffrey Kimball (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible II), throwback, a spy versus spy B-movie harkening back to the 1980’s when small productions like this one were a dime a dozen and studios like Orion, Cannon and others made a fair share of their bread and butter popping them out.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just an overly familiar thing. Figuring out where Brandt and Haas’ screenplay is going isn’t exactly difficult, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Paul/Cassius has it pegged almost as soon as Highland approaches him with the assignment. The line between hero and villain is suitably murky, and I mean that as a plus, but the final scenes don’t have the weight or the impact of say that last sequence in No Way Out did, and for all the technical low-tech virtuosity (again, that’s a plus) on display the blatantly bland familiarity of the narrative is a definite drawback impossible to ignore.

At the same time, at home, away from the movie theatre and the inflated ticket prices, with the ability to put the film on pause and to fold some laundry or make a light snack in the kitchen, gosh darn it all but The Double does indeed play rather nicely. Brandt shows a knack for pacing, keeping things moving but never overdoing it in a way that takes away from either character or plotting. He stages a fine, bone-crunching car chase during the third act, while an early scene of Paul/Cassius executing a former witness with knowledge of his early days as a Russian agent is suitably brutal and unnerving.

It should also be noted that Gere is quite terrific here. It’s a shame he doesn’t get better roles, that his work in movies like this one and in The Hoax goes mostly unheralded. He’s always been a fine actor with knowledge of his own strengths and weaknesses, and it goes without saying that his days of picking disasters he was completely ill-suited for like King David and Final Analysis seem to be long behind him. He gives a strong, multilayered performance that’s far and away the best thing about the picture, and it’s highly doubtful I’d be giving it the time of day were it not for him.

The Double isn’t great. Heck, I’m not even sure I’d even go so far as to call it ‘good.’ But it is definitely more than passable, and thanks to Gere it oftentimes rises to plateau even higher than that. Brandt shows promise as a director, and while his and Haas’ scripts are as silly and as lazily contrived as ever they still have a knack for constructing scenarios that are highly appealing on a lazy Sunday afternoon when the rain is falling, the dishes need washing and the dusting is dire need of being done.

THE VIDEO

The Double is presented on a single-layer 25GB Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video with a 2.35:1/1080p transfer. A very strong transfer, much better than I anticipated. Color levels are great, blacks are consistent and the image retains a sharp crispness that’s highly appealing.

THE AUDIO

The Double comes to Blu-ray in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

·         Audio Commentary with writer/director Michael Brandt and writer/producer Derek Haas

·         Producer Interviews (7:49)

·         Original Theatrical Trailer (2:26)

Not a lot, but the audio commentary is fairly strong with Brandt and Haas openly discussing the things they wish they could have done better while also reveling over the aspects of the production they felt they got spot-on. The interview piece is nothing more than a very short featurette featuring Brandt, Haas, Gere, Grace and others, and as such doesn’t do a lot but is just fine for what it is.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Double isn’t anything outstanding and it doesn’t do anything all that new, but it is more or less entertaining for what it is and features a strong central performance from Gere definitely worthy of crowing about. It’s a rental, nothing more, but just because that’s so doesn’t make the disc as a whole any less laudable.