Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Locked in a high-tech English manor, bound in a deadly duel of wits, Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle come together as English gentlemen to discuss the matter of Wyke's wife: the woman both are sleeping with.
This 2007 remake of the 1972 classic, scripted by Harold Pinter, is essentially a two-hander chamber piece between Michael Caine (who played the younger role in the original) and Jude Law. The acting is genuinely the film's strongest suit — both leads deliver sharp, layered performances full of menace and wit. Pinter's screenplay adds his signature sparse, loaded dialogue, giving it some literary distinction. However, as a remake of a well-known film and stage play, Novelty suffers considerably — the core premise and power-game structure are inherited rather than invented. The cinematography by Jess Hall is stylized and modernized with a cold, high-contrast look that suits the material but doesn't transcend it. The ending, inherited from the source, lands with sufficient impact but lacks surprise for those familiar with the original. Overall a respectable, tightly acted chamber thriller that struggles to justify its own existence alongside the Mankiewicz original.