I haven't read the original Graham Greene novel as I'm not a big fan of his, and was curious as to how his sentimental and "soft" personality would come to the big screen.
Some things didn't work too well. First off, the heavy reliance on narration almost works but not entirely. I wonder if a straightforward telling of an intriguing story might not have worked to better advantage rather than the flashback approach.
What DOES work brilliantly is the "love" story involving Michael Caine's character and his Vietnamese concubine. It's good to see Caine on top form after all these years of an outstanding, brilliant acting career on film. Do Thi Hai Yen's portrayal of Phong, his lover, is bewitching. She is distant and mysterious, perhaps too distant. There is something preposterous about Pyle's sudden intrusion into their lives. He enters the scene and simply takes what he wants from Fowler (Caine) with little resistance from the latter; a bit of Greene's "softness" coming into the lead character's personality perhaps. It rings a bit false, as does most of Pyle's behavior throughout. A chance to elaborate on Pyle's motivations is completely ignored in favor of a sort-of generic "ugly" American approach and consequently muting the impact of the outcome of the film.
Brendan Fraser, a brilliant comedian, is surprisingly good as the "heavy" Pyle. He looks like a beefy geek and conveys a mysterious under-pinning to the character that is left to the viewer's imagination as to what is really going on inside his head.
It's a good film but oddly muted. The technical aspects are excellent and the shots of Saigon before the Viet Nam war went into full swing are beautiful.
But if you want a more complete view of the French occupation of Viet Nam, pre-Lyndon Johnson, see 'Indochine' with Catherine Deneuve. Now THAT is a great film.
This version of 'The Quiet American' is good but nothing special, aside from the opportunity to see Caine in a highly nuanced performance late in his career.
Some things didn't work too well. First off, the heavy reliance on narration almost works but not entirely. I wonder if a straightforward telling of an intriguing story might not have worked to better advantage rather than the flashback approach.
What DOES work brilliantly is the "love" story involving Michael Caine's character and his Vietnamese concubine. It's good to see Caine on top form after all these years of an outstanding, brilliant acting career on film. Do Thi Hai Yen's portrayal of Phong, his lover, is bewitching. She is distant and mysterious, perhaps too distant. There is something preposterous about Pyle's sudden intrusion into their lives. He enters the scene and simply takes what he wants from Fowler (Caine) with little resistance from the latter; a bit of Greene's "softness" coming into the lead character's personality perhaps. It rings a bit false, as does most of Pyle's behavior throughout. A chance to elaborate on Pyle's motivations is completely ignored in favor of a sort-of generic "ugly" American approach and consequently muting the impact of the outcome of the film.
Brendan Fraser, a brilliant comedian, is surprisingly good as the "heavy" Pyle. He looks like a beefy geek and conveys a mysterious under-pinning to the character that is left to the viewer's imagination as to what is really going on inside his head.
It's a good film but oddly muted. The technical aspects are excellent and the shots of Saigon before the Viet Nam war went into full swing are beautiful.
But if you want a more complete view of the French occupation of Viet Nam, pre-Lyndon Johnson, see 'Indochine' with Catherine Deneuve. Now THAT is a great film.
This version of 'The Quiet American' is good but nothing special, aside from the opportunity to see Caine in a highly nuanced performance late in his career.