Review by Dragan Antulov
2 stars out of 4
In the early 1990s it seemed that Hollywood producers like
to make two very distinctive types of thrillers. One,
obviously inspired by smashing success of Demme's SILENCE OF
THE LAMBS, dealt with demonic yet efficient and
hyperintelligent serial killers. Another one, spawned by
BASIC INSTINCT, used, or to be more precise, shamelessly
exploited sex or sexual themes in the plot. The former one
is still popular, the latter one have already reached its
peak and turned to straight-for-video land. However, more
than a decade ago, and long before such explosion, there was
a movie that fused both of those elements, and did it more
seriously. It was BLACK WIDOW by Bob Rafelson, that used a
very old film noire motives and gave it a completely new and
modern twist.
The villain in this movie is Catherine (Theresa Russell),
beautiful, charming and intelligent woman that seduces and
marries a whole bunch of wealthy men only to have them
mysteriously die few months later. After collecting
inheritance money, she disappears, takes new identity and
begins her deadly scheme all over again. Her modus operandi,
however, brings the attention of Alexandra Barnes (Debra
Winger), workaholic Justice Department investigator. After
obsessively tracking down Catherine all over the country,
Alexandra finally reaches her at Hawaii. Catherine there
wants to pull the same stunt on Paul (Sami Frey), local
tycoon. Knowing that she would have to catch Catherine red
handed, Alexandra meets her and tries to strike a
friendship, not knowing that Catherine has some suspicions
too.
One of the things seldom seen in Hollywood is a thriller
that has two strong female leads. In case of BLACK WIDOW
that shouldn't surprise anyone, because the screenplay
writer Ronald Bass prefers strong female characters in his
works. In BLACK WIDOW both of the female leads are portrayed
as superior to all the men they encounter - Catherine as a
skilful sex manipulator that could fool anybody, and
Alexandra as hard-working law enforcer always step ahead
from her colleagues. Very good performances by Theresa
Russell and Debra Winger give their characters a lot of
contrast to each other - Catherine is rich, beautiful and
cool, and Alexandra is poor, plain and always nervous. But
when they finally meet, sparks fly and unusual attraction
develops between them, only to be finally and explicitly
addressed in one very scene.
Unfortunately, good characterisation don't solve all the
problems, and one of the problems in BLACK WIDOW is
unconvincing plot. There are too many loose ends and some
implausibilities, including totally clich‚d ending scene.
Sami Frey as exotic foreigner and potential love interest is
also very bland. Other actors are more than fine, although
they have limited screen time - especially Nicol Williamson,
James Hong and Terry O'Quinn. Photography by Conrad L. Hall
is very good, and it has a very good use of beautiful
Hawaiian scenery. Musical score by Michael Small with its
dark themes is a nice contrast to the visual beauty of film.
Editing is good, and Rafelson's direction spotless. However,
although definitely worth watching, BLACK WIDOW at the end
leaves a bitter taste of missed opportunities.
Copyright © 1998 Dragan Antulov
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