Under Suspicion (review)

Two young girls have been found strangled within a matter of days in the sweltering city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Henry Hearst (Gene Hackman: Enemy of the State), "a pillar of the legal community," found one of the bodies... or did he put her there? A 10-minute chat with police captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman: Nurse Betty) to clear up some niggling details turns into an all-night interrogation as Victor unravels lie after lie in Henry's original statement to the police. Director Stephen Hopkins more than makes up for his last effort, Lost in Space, with this riveting and discomforting suspense tale... though much of the credit must go to Freeman and Hackman, two of the finest, most intelligent actors working today, as they create a one-on-one dialogue that drags both Henry and Victor through uneasy realizations about themselves, their long-standing friendship with each other, and their relationships with women. Lurking in the background is Detective Felix Owens (Thomas Jane: Deep Blue Sea), whose unintentional good cop/bad cop routine with Victor will have dire consequences, consequences that will raise all sorts of troubling questions about sexual jealousy, adultery, and the usefulness of dark, unseemly fantasy... and the boundary between fantasy and insanity. Gloomily fascinating, forcefully compelling, this is a thriller for grownups: no blood, no guns, no car chases, just an exploration of the hidden recesses of the human mind.