This story of distrust, dual identities and deeply conflicted characters is essentially a routine spy thriller that punches above its weight because of the presence of a couple of actors (Richard Gere and Martin Sheen) who add some gravitas to the proceedings. Its twisted plot is played out in an atmosphere that becomes increasingly sinister and surprisingly concludes in a way that, although rather grim, provides unexpected benefits for its two main protagonists.
After a U.S. Senator is mysteriously assassinated, CIA Director Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) swiftly takes charge of the investigation which he soon decides would benefit from the expertise that retired operative Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) could provide. Paul is duly invited to a joint CIA / FBI briefing where rookie FBI Agent Ben Geary (Topher Grace) provides what he believes is strong evidence that the killing was carried out by a Soviet assassin codenamed Cassius, who'd been inactive for the last 20 years. Paul, who'd spent his entire CIA career pursuing the Russian killer, says that this theory, which was based on the method by which the Senator was killed, is nonsense because he personally killed Cassius many year earlier. Furthermore, he asserts that the assassination is far more likely to be the work of a copycat killer.
Paul becomes irritated when ex-Harvard man Ben, who had written his thesis on Cassius, claims to know absolutely everything about the Russian and by association, Paul's previous exploits when he was employed by the CIA. Despite this, Paul teams up with Ben when he's ordered to do so and the two men begin their investigation by visiting one of Cassius' team of assassins known as "The Cassius Seven" who were all given CIA code names taken from the group of Romans that killed Julius Caesar.
The brusque and badly scarred Brutus (Stephen Moyer) who'd been languishing in prison for a long time, only provides a limited amount of information but is rewarded by the investigators who give him a radio before leaving. Shortly after, Brutus swallows the radio batteries and apparently in great pain, is taken to a hospital for treatment. There, he spits out the batteries and makes a run for it. Surprisingly, when he reaches the basement of the building, he's met by Paul who confesses that he's Cassius and promptly kills Brutus by his trademark method of slitting his victim's throat by using a thin wire that neatly uncoils from his wristwatch. A revelation of this magnitude, made so early in the movie, seems to remove the likelihood of any real mystery from the remainder of the story but what happens between Ben and Paul in the action that follows, promotes increasing levels of distrust on both sides that lead to even bigger surprises and a violent conclusion that's both ironic and mildly amusing.
"The Double" is well-paced and features some entertaining action but lacks the on-going kind of tension that's normally associated with espionage thrillers. More interesting is the dynamic between the world-weary Paul who has considerably more respect for empirical knowledge rather than the kind that's acquired by academic endeavour and Ben, who like Paul, is deeply conflicted because he's driven by his instincts to take one course of action but for important personal reasons feels that he can't.
Richard Gere's portrayal of Cassius is impressive because of the very subtle ways in which he conveys every aspect of his complex character's feelings and motivations as he almost singlehandedly makes this movie considerably better than it would otherwise have been.
After a U.S. Senator is mysteriously assassinated, CIA Director Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) swiftly takes charge of the investigation which he soon decides would benefit from the expertise that retired operative Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) could provide. Paul is duly invited to a joint CIA / FBI briefing where rookie FBI Agent Ben Geary (Topher Grace) provides what he believes is strong evidence that the killing was carried out by a Soviet assassin codenamed Cassius, who'd been inactive for the last 20 years. Paul, who'd spent his entire CIA career pursuing the Russian killer, says that this theory, which was based on the method by which the Senator was killed, is nonsense because he personally killed Cassius many year earlier. Furthermore, he asserts that the assassination is far more likely to be the work of a copycat killer.
Paul becomes irritated when ex-Harvard man Ben, who had written his thesis on Cassius, claims to know absolutely everything about the Russian and by association, Paul's previous exploits when he was employed by the CIA. Despite this, Paul teams up with Ben when he's ordered to do so and the two men begin their investigation by visiting one of Cassius' team of assassins known as "The Cassius Seven" who were all given CIA code names taken from the group of Romans that killed Julius Caesar.
The brusque and badly scarred Brutus (Stephen Moyer) who'd been languishing in prison for a long time, only provides a limited amount of information but is rewarded by the investigators who give him a radio before leaving. Shortly after, Brutus swallows the radio batteries and apparently in great pain, is taken to a hospital for treatment. There, he spits out the batteries and makes a run for it. Surprisingly, when he reaches the basement of the building, he's met by Paul who confesses that he's Cassius and promptly kills Brutus by his trademark method of slitting his victim's throat by using a thin wire that neatly uncoils from his wristwatch. A revelation of this magnitude, made so early in the movie, seems to remove the likelihood of any real mystery from the remainder of the story but what happens between Ben and Paul in the action that follows, promotes increasing levels of distrust on both sides that lead to even bigger surprises and a violent conclusion that's both ironic and mildly amusing.
"The Double" is well-paced and features some entertaining action but lacks the on-going kind of tension that's normally associated with espionage thrillers. More interesting is the dynamic between the world-weary Paul who has considerably more respect for empirical knowledge rather than the kind that's acquired by academic endeavour and Ben, who like Paul, is deeply conflicted because he's driven by his instincts to take one course of action but for important personal reasons feels that he can't.
Richard Gere's portrayal of Cassius is impressive because of the very subtle ways in which he conveys every aspect of his complex character's feelings and motivations as he almost singlehandedly makes this movie considerably better than it would otherwise have been.