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"Malice" takes so many twists and turns that when I recently
watched it on TV my head was spinning by the first commercial
break.
Nicole Kidman, George C. Scott, and Alec Baldwin are the stars
- what a cast! Kidman plays a woman who is an accomplished conniver,
schemer, and liar. This character is also a convincing actress
- she has everyone, including her own husband, thinking that
she is a sweet, wonderful person. After all, she does volunteer
at the hospital day care center five days a week, and does every
other nice, normal thing you can imagine.
Secretly, she is very cunning. She and a doctor (Baldwin) have
hatched a plan: she will sue the hospital he works for over
a mistake that they both planned he'd make. She will get twenty
million dollars, and then run off with him. Her clueless husband
(Scott) will never know the truth.
But things go wrong. Scott finds out what happened and tries
to blackmail her. Along the way, he learns that she lied to
him about nearly everything, and that Baldwin isn't who he pretends
to be either.
The action, suspense, and plot twists make "Malice" a truly
thrilling thriller.
And, the end of the movie was almost laughable in its simplicity
and irony (don't read any further if you don't want to know
the end): To make a long story short, Scott helps the police
lay a trap for Kidman and she is hauled off to jail. Amazingly,
I almost found myself sympathizing with this character, ruthless
and malicious as she is, because I could easily imagine how
frustrating it would be to end up in her situation (behind bars
for an incredibly stupid little mistake). You can just imagine
how she must be kicking herself. (Although I've never committed
any crimes, I do know what it feels like to have a seemingly
good plan blow up in my face!) To have a murder plot go bad
must be unthinkably maddening! Only one thing: Kidman's character
is so delightfully crafty and resourceful, I was sure she was
planning an escape from jail at the end of the movie. I'm surprised
a sequel hasn't been made yet...
My rating: 4 stars
Rating : R |
