Monday, April 15, 2024

'RIPLEY'.....HIGHSMITH'S FAVORITE PSYCHO, SLOWED TO A CRAWL......

 

Ripley (2024 series-Netflix)   It's the third time around for an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's "The Talented Mr. Ripley".....(after the French 1969 'Purple Noon' and the well known 1999 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' with Matt Damon Jude Law and Gwynth Paltrow)

          Pass this one by.

          For audiences, it's a tranquilizing slog, created primarily for critics, bloggers, assorted cinema culture-vultures...... and maybe the immediate families of the actors involved.

           For everyone else?  Pass it by. 

          It's entirely possible that buried deep, deep inside the 8 episode, nearly 8 hour series, there's a nifty little dark film noir strugging to get out. 

            But it's buried alive under the artsy-fartsy black-and-white cinematography, the endless repetitive shots of people climbing stairs and the overall pacing of an oil painting. 

            Since 'Ripley' moves with the speed of a dead turtle lying crushed on a highway, a viewer's given lots of time to notice the Zeppelin-sized plotholes and the near catatonic performances from the entire cast. 

             In case anyone nods off, a few episodes offer a wakeup call in the form of Ripley bashing someone's head in with a heavy glass ashtray. Then feel free to fall right back to sleep. 

             There's more stuff we could say.....but....nah. Why bother?

             An utter waste of time. 

                   If some creative You-Tuber hijacks all the footage and condenses a reasonable 90 minute movie out of it, we're more than willing to give it another chance. 

              But in its current form, it's unwatchable. It reeks of begging for awards it never will deserve. 

              What a blatant waste of time and talent. Zero stars (0).  If Tom Ripley were a real person and had to watch this.......he'd find the director and introduce his head to that big glass ashtray........

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