Thomas Crown Affair

Starring:  Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Dennis Leary

Also Starring: Frankie Faison, Faye Dunaway

Director:  John McTiernan

Box Office Gross:  $69.298m (USA)

DVD release date:  1/4/2000

Special Extras:  2 theatrical trailers, 8 page booklet, commentary by the director

Options: Subtitles in French and English, soundtracks in French and English. Widescreen or full. 5.1 Dolby.

Summary:  Self-made billionaire Thomas Crown is bored of being able to buy everything he desires.

 

Review:

The Thomas Crown Affair asks one simple question and then takes the viewer on the answer:

"What do you do when you are a billionaire and you get bored?"

The answer for Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) is to steal priceless artwork, in this case his favorite painter Monet.

In a slick remake of the 1967 movie that starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, John McTiernan (Die Hard and 13th Warrior) takes the directorial helm and does a good enough job to keep you intrigued in a movie that stretches a bit too long.

Billionaire Thomas Crown has it all: boats, cars, planes, gliders and all the luxuries a man could want. One thing he does not have is intrigue and suspense in his daily life of hostile takeovers and business details. When a priceless Monet painting disappears from a New York museum where it is on tour, no one has a clue as to how it happened. Thomas Crown soon learns that even all the money in the world cannot buy the perfect crime in the form of Catherine Banning, a sexy and lethal insurance investigator. Banning soon puts two and two together and starts to pinpoint Crown as the suspect. Only problem is that during their game of cat and mouse, they fall into a dangerous love affair with each other.

The basic outline of Thomas Crown has the viewer wondering whether or not Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) will turn in Crown or let her love for him rule her judgment. Filled with great twists and interesting characters, The Thomas Crown Affair is a good caper thriller with just the right amount of glitz thrown in. McTiernan does a good job of directing the tricky caper scenes and of showing a sly fox side to Brosnan, who still doesn’t stretch too far from his Bond roles. Russo, on the other hand, is terrific as the neurotic, always on the go Banning. She is also very ruthless and smart. It was an interesting thing to watch her let her defenses down as the movie went on to the point where the crime became second to her.

The one thing that stood out for me in the film was the way the screenplay showed the exorbitant amount of wealth Crown had and how his life was so empty. From the glider scene where he lands 4 states away from his car and is picked up by his own jet to the catamaran scene, you are for a couple of hours thrown into the life of a wealthy eccentric. The writing by Alan Trustman and Leslie Dixon is sharp and witty, with many clues being thrown in early as Banning figures things out. No characters ever sound lame or state the obvious and it leaves a lot for the viewer to discover. Another note should be made for Denis Leary’s great portrayal of Michael McAnn, a down and out detective first assigned to crack the case. In the few scenes he is in, Leary shows us the detective and gets the point across that he is all business. Although McAnn knows that Banning is falling for Crown, he will not put aside his job and strictly reminds her that behind it all Thomas Crown is still a criminal. Still, for McAnn, his job is just a paycheck, and it is in this attitude we see the best of Leary’s acting.

With a fantastic musical score by Bill Conti that I was humming for hours after the movie, Thomas Crown leaves you with wanting to see more of Crown in action. Perhaps that is where the movie falters. Although we are treated to a great opening theft, the movie really doesn’t go into specifics. During the film I wanted to know “Had he done that before”, “how did he learn about the specifics of the robbery”, and “what about the past of Banning?” With as long as the movie is it does not fill us in on these details and I would have like to have seen at least one more heist.

The DVD is a nice package, with a brilliant opening menu set in an art gallery with animated scenes from the movie dissolving into paintings. Special features include the trailers for this version as well as the 1967 one, and a commentary by McTiernan, the director. The visuals are outstanding, sharp and clear. The sound is top notch with a great soundtrack that fits every scene of the movie yet never drowns out dialogue. Overall Thomas Crown is a romance with a backdrop of intrigue. Although not as heavy on the action side for some as they would like, the mental cat and mouse games going on in the film really kept me drawn in. With a decent price and some good extras, the DVD package comes off as polished and complete. A good buy for Russo and Brosnan fans wanting to see them show off real good screen chemistry.

DVD Rating:

Look: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Extras: 3/5

Total:  4/5