Read Positive User Reviews for The Talented Mr. Ripley

10

JuanoloApr 1, 2012

First off, I would give it a 9.25 out of 10. Acting is pretty good. Story is great. Some fighting scenes can be pretty brutal. Also, the environments are pretty great looking. Score is good. Overall, it's a good, interesting movie that youFirst off, I would give it a 9.25 out of 10. Acting is pretty good. Story is great. Some fighting scenes can be pretty brutal. Also, the environments are pretty great looking. Score is good. Overall, it's a good, interesting movie that you should watch.… Expand

20 of 25 users found this helpful205

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10

ElizabethM.Mar 11, 2007

This film is my all time favourite film. The scenery is beautiful, the acting is great and the film is extremely well written.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

9

ConnorMSep 25, 2009

Truly remarkable. Damon really steps into the limelight after this stellar performance and Law also did one hell of a job.The emotional impact wasn't extreme but nonetheless you felt it. With it's unpredictable, yet thrilling plot Truly remarkable. Damon really steps into the limelight after this stellar performance and Law also did one hell of a job.The emotional impact wasn't extreme but nonetheless you felt it. With it's unpredictable, yet thrilling plot and outstanding performances this is easily one of the best films of the 1990's.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

10

HabibiehakimMay 24, 2022

The Talented Mr. Ripley is definitely one of the craziest ride or more of like one of the most intense ride i've ever watch in movies, Matt Damon in one of if not his best performances, he was convincing, he was terrifying, and he wasThe Talented Mr. Ripley is definitely one of the craziest ride or more of like one of the most intense ride i've ever watch in movies, Matt Damon in one of if not his best performances, he was convincing, he was terrifying, and he was frustrating just like the movie in a good way, it's really a ride and this is one of those movie that really depends on how it ends, i can see people hating how it ends, i can see people liking how it ends, and i can see people fine on how it ends even though they are hoping another ending but still think the movie still ended in a very good way or for me a very cool way, overall The Talented Mr. Ripley is indeed a very smart movie that been written and directed by a real talented people to make this movie so intense and so frustrating again in a very good way and it works perfectly, it's a great movie overall.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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9

SindriFeb 18, 2011

A delight for eyes, ears and mind - It's late in the 1950s. Jazz is popular and Tom Ripley travels to Italia for the first time to discover the world.

Loner Tom Ripley joyfully accepts a generous offer from shipping pioneer HerbertA delight for eyes, ears and mind - It's late in the 1950s. Jazz is popular and Tom Ripley travels to Italia for the first time to discover the world.

Loner Tom Ripley joyfully accepts a generous offer from shipping pioneer Herbert Greenleaf. All he has to do is travel to Mongibello, south of Naples and convince his son Dickie to return home to New York. When Ripley meets Dickie and his girlfriend, he is attracted by the vital womanizer and the carefree life he lives. All goes well until Ripley's attraction towards Dickie turns to jealousy and he realizes that he is not willing to give up his new world.

Minghella's story invites us into the inner and emotional life of protagonist Tom Ripley who on the outside appears as a humble, intelligent, socially well-adjusted and credible person. His inner fragility reveals it self in his interaction with the rich man's son Dickie, whose personality contrasts Ripley as warmth contrasts cold. Ripley's esteem blossoms in Dickie's company, but dazzled with Dickie's dazzling being he is misled to believe that Dickie's friendship is sincere and unfortunately it takes him to long to realize that his new friend considers him pastime. After the movies point-of-no-return Ripley's darker sides rises to the surface. The overeducated working class boy turns into a man of the world and at this point the character development takes a shocking turn and Minghella draws us further and further into Ripley's psyche.

Minghella's knife sharp and plot rich screenplay, based on Patricia Highsmith's novel from 1955, is told with chronological narrative, voice-over and flashback scenes. Topics such as solitude, alienation, upper class life, envy, infatuation, homosexuality, identity and class distinction are explored in this flawlessly photographed in-depth character study which contains brilliant editing that alternates between long and short takes.

The films nerve rests on Ripley's character, who has to overcome obstacle by obstacle to maintain his newly acquired status. This is effectuated by the strong progress Minghella creates through a story that never seizes to amaze. John Seal's earlier mentioned photography makes Italia look like a mystic adventure-land and enhances the films considerate mood. The stylized and realistic milieu depictions prompts the feeling of the zeitgeist, white the cinematography and music strengthens the romantic and ominous moods.

When it comes to the acting, the whole crew is magnificent. Matt Damon's transformation to the nerdy and unpredictable main-character is impressive and his interpretation of this complex character is undoubtedly one of his finest. Jude Law should also be mentioned for the breakthrough role that made him one of the worlds largest movie-stars. With charismatic charm, arrogant attitude and an inspiring hunger for life, he perfectly embodies the character Dickie Greenleaf. Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow and Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers substantial supporting performances and as Jude Law, they became huge movie-stars few years later.… Expand

8 of 9 users found this helpful81

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10

bcoolFeb 21, 2012

Anthony Minghella sure knew how to make a beautiful film. This film deserves to be classic. Damon, Law, Paltrow, Blanchett and Hoffman are terrific here.

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

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9

theahsanhaseebSep 12, 2012

Tom Ripley is an intelligent, literate and a calm monster; his characterization is extremely astonishing. It feels like we know he's the bad guy but we still want him to get away and never get caught by anyone. That's the charm of Tom Ripley.Tom Ripley is an intelligent, literate and a calm monster; his characterization is extremely astonishing. It feels like we know he's the bad guy but we still want him to get away and never get caught by anyone. That's the charm of Tom Ripley. Matt's performance was wonderful, as I expected, he shined. Intelligent screenplay and a classy thriller including the elements of homosexuality mixed with envy, jealousy and crime, now that's something to look forward to. It gets a bit boring and slow in the middle though but if you get past through that, you'll really love it. I haven't read the novel so I don't know how much this film varies from the originality, but whatever, I like this movie because it still has that charm that works for me and if you only watch the movie and don't compare it to the novel, I think you'll still love it.… Expand

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

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9

FilipeNetoNov 6, 2021

This film completely lived up to my expectations, having proved to be an authentic essay on vanity, hypocrisy, human falsehood. Based on a novel, the film brings to cinema again material that had already given rise to at least one film, inThis film completely lived up to my expectations, having proved to be an authentic essay on vanity, hypocrisy, human falsehood. Based on a novel, the film brings to cinema again material that had already given rise to at least one film, in the 60s. It is, however, more than a mere remake, not making any kind of allusion to this film, which only real moviegoers will probably remember now.

The script is simple to summarize, but any idea of a simplistic, easy or light story is, in my view, a great illusion: the film is far denser, psychologically rich and nuanced than this brief synopsis might imply. Tom Ripley, a young man of modest origins, will ingratiate himself with Mr. Greenleaf, an American shipbuilding industrialist who will quickly "hire" him to go to Italy and convince his son, Dickie, to come back and take over his place in their business. It turns out that Dickie, living hedonistic and carefree on the Italian coast, beside a beautiful woman and at his father's expense, surrounded by friends, amusements and pleasures, wants everything except to return to New York... and Ripley decides to stay too. But Ripley's envy may take him further, as the differences and incompatibilities between them grow, as does Ripley's desire to have his new friend's life.

In fact, how much can we envy someone? Ripley goes to the extreme, nullifying her own self to completely embody the envied person, becoming that same person. As he says, "I'd rather be a fake somebody than a complete nobody". Of course, anyone could claim that the film's situation would be untenable in the long run for Ripley, with the lie coming to the fore as everyone who really knew Dickie came up and questioned his apparent disappearance... there's also, in both characters, a kind of latent homosexuality, repressed by both sides, which thickens much more their complex psychology.

In addition to a good story and an excellent construction of characters and script, the film offers us an extraordinary cast. Of course, by the nature of their characters, Matt Damon and Jude Law deserve all the attention. Damon is excellent in the restrained, obsessive and cold way in which he embodied the character, but it is Law who really enchanted me, giving us one of the best works of his career: he gives his character his own charisma and an enormous passion for life that goes beyond any rich-boy hedonism. In addition to them, the film features a satisfactory, albeit faded, participation by Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett (very poorly used and hardly ever shown) and also Philip Seymour Hoffman, for whom the script reserves a particularly caricatured role, associated with bohemian life and a certain elegant loitering.

On a technical level, the film has several elements of interest, starting with a very good and elegant cinematography, with good colors, good light, and the intelligent use of the beauty of the Mediterranean landscapes where the film was shot. In fact, the film manages to make even us, the audience, wish for ourselves the carefree life of sun, sea and music that Dickie Greenleaf chose for himself, and understand very well how Ripley allowed herself to be seduced and fascinated by it all... of course, none of us would do what he ended up doing, but we almost supported the character. The film is set in the 50s, and gives us a smell of that time and that environment through clothes, cars and other props, such as the simple fact that almost everyone smokes, a habit still considered elegant at that time. Jazz is an almost ubiquitous element in the film and the soundtrack makes good use of it, but I regret that the film has not also known how to take advantage of some of the best Italian songs... I remember that the Italian song of the 50s and 60s is considered by many to be the best of music in this country, with names like Emílio Pericoli, Mina Mazzini or Ornella Vanoni, to name a few.… Expand